Invisible
by Marvech93
Summary: Blue Oak was a born fighter, his father used to say. That was the reason he couldn't accept his loss to Red at the Indigo Plateau. When Red begins to sink deeper and deeper into darkness, help comes in the most unexpected way and the fallen champion begins to see an aspect of the trainer who used to be his rival no one had ever seen before. Gameverse. No pairings.
1. Prologue - Invisible

_I don't own Pokémon. I can't believe this still has to be said but there's always an asshole to remind you sooner or later.  
_

* * *

 **Prologue: Invisible**

Blue watched in horror as his Blastoise collapsed on the hard stone floor of the battlefield while his opponent's Charizard stood, wobbly but proud, over its defeated foe. Behind the fire breathing dragon stood its master, stoic like he always was.

A deafening silence fell over the battlefield. The dust settled. Neither said a thing.

No... This couldn't be true! Blue kept his hazel eyes locked onto his fallen pokémon. The sheer force of the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him was just barely held back by the psychological walls he had encased himself in for years. He wanted to scream, to punch, to kick; to tell him just how much he hated him but his pride held him back and he forced himself to maintain what was left of his dignity.

Red withdrew his tired Charizard inside of its pokéball and his eyes locked with his lifelong rival's. He waited. Oh, he knew what he was waiting for. Blue had to bite down on his tongue so hard to refrain himself from screaming, he felt it bleed. The physical pain was nothing compared to the humiliation he was going through. However, he made a point of returning Red's gaze with a glare of his own as he descended the steps on top of which was erected the champion's throne he had sat on not two hours ago.

After all this time; all this work and it all came down to this. He had him! He had only his Charizard left standing and his trustworthy Blastoise had a type advantage. He had him backed in a corner. All he needed was a well aimed hydro pump... He had his fingers about to grab the metaphorical trophy. He had been about to defeat Red once and for all and force everyone to acknowledge his superiority. Red, the League and especially his grandfather. Next thing he knew, his starter got his head smashed on the stone floor and didn't get up.

Blue withdrew his pokémon as well.

The two boys stared eachother down wordlessly, suspended in time. Red didn't say anything; his face was set in a calm, determined expression that said a lot more than words could.

This was wrong! He shouldn't have won! His strategy was foolproof! It was bad luck! Nothing more.

His train of thought was interrupted by the appearance of a newcomer, who walked into the room, the sound of his footsteps reverbating off of the walls.

"Blue! I hurried to congratulate you when I heard you became champion."

Professor Samuel Oak stopped a few paces away from the two boys. Blue felt his blood freeze in his veins. He knew, just from the look on his grandfather's face, that he understood what happened instantly. And the worst part was, he didn't seem surprised in the slightest. Professor Oak's gaze shifted from him to Red and a smile illuminated his aged features.

"Red, congratulations! I knew you had it in you."

The professor proudly patted the red-capped child on the shoulder. Blue watched, scandalized, as his grandfather turned his back on him.

"Now, Red, let's step outside and announce your victory to the world. I hope you're ready! The reporters are gonna be all over you."

The professor led his protégé towards the exit as if he wasn't even there.

"W-wait, gramps!" he attempted to stop him, his desperation to catch his attention embarrassingly obvious despite his best efforts to hide it. "I became champion, too! I beat the Elite Four and became champion before _he_ even got on the Plateau! I-"

"And you lost your title as soon as you got it!" the elder Oak snapped at him so harshly that even Red was caught off guard and winced.

The latter actually risked a glance at his rival, who looked like he had just been slapped in the face.

"You lost, Blue. And you lost to Red because he understood something you were too arrogant to see. You don't trust your pokémon and they can't trust you. You treat them like tools to rise through the ranks. You make them fight way past their limits. You're a tyrant! Red treats his pokémon with love and respect. That's why he triumphed and you failed."

Blue was completely paralyzed. He felt his heart clench and his blood boil. He had become the champion, the strongest trainer in all of Kanto, and he couldn't even get a pat on the back from his grandfather. Instead, he got a cold, angry and disappointed glare from the man who raised him in the absence of his parents. Red got all the praise he so richly deserved.

The latter was actually staring at him, visibly uncomfortable, with a semblance of... pity?

Blue felt a knot form in his throat and begin to choke him as the bitter tears started to fill his eyes. His grandfather looking at him with scorn and his rival with _pity_... The humiliation was just too much to bear. No way he was gonna give them the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

Red stared at his rival, seeing him struggle with the scolding he had just received. A part of him told him he should feel satisfaction. After all Blue had said and done to him; after all the arrogance and disdain he had showed him, he finally got what was coming to him. He got knocked off his high rapidash and realized he wasn't the best like he always pretended to be. Red had pictured this moment many times in his head throughout his journey, dreaming of the day Blue would finally bite the dust...

However, now that the moment finally came true and he saw his rival, utterly crushed, shaking and choking back tears of shame, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't bring himself to laugh and rub his victory in his demolished opponent's face. Not after his own grandfather had just reprimanded him so harshly, completely overlooking his accomplishment, which was, nevertheless, impressive. Instead of feeling satisfied, he felt kind of sorry for him.

Blue caught him staring and immediately straightened up, swallowing back bitter sobs. At that moment, Red saw him dart at him the coldest, angriest and most hateful glare he had ever seen on a human face. It felt like a gun being pointed directly at his forehead.; like the sickening crack of a whip. His head lowered in shame and his reddening face partially obscured by stray bangs of hair, Blue kept his glare, piercing white hot holes in his skull, locked on him and despite his natural bravery and calm, Red felt it shake him to the core.

"Come on now, Red," Professor Oak beckoned, guiding him towards the exit, apparently oblivious to the silent exchange that had occured between the two boys.

Red turned away, reasoning that he should be enjoying the moment; his moment. He had reached his goal, after all. He was the new champion.

As the pair stepped out of the room, Red felt Blue rush past him, running on ahead. Professor Oak paid him no mind and Red couldn't help but wonder why. Why was the old man completely insensitive to his, granted, arrogant but talented grandson?

Blue disappeared through the doors ahead of them. Outside, dozens upon dozens of reporters blocked his path, taking his picture and assaulting him with questions. A fresh cold wash of shame overcame him. His red face and his watery eyes for the whole world to see while the reporters made sure he would go down in history as the young crybaby from Pallet Town who had the shortest reign on the League throne in history. He couldn't hold back the tear that ran down his cheek.

Clenching his jaws shut, Blue bolted ahead, pushing through the reporters like an angry tauros, not caring who he hurt in the process. His own dignity was bleeding out of him and nothing else mattered at the moment. Over his shoulder, coming from the mass of journalists, he caught the words: 'loser', 'former champion', 'shortest reign in history', 'crushing defeat', 'crying'...

When Red and the professor made it out of the League building, a wall of reporters blocked their way, jabbing microphones in their faces and blinding Red with the flash of their cameras. Two or three reporters asked him questions at the same time. Discreet and humble Red quickly found himself overwhelmed by the sheer amount of noise and visual agression he was sustaining.

"Our records indicate that you're the second youngest League champion Kanto has ever seen. Any thoughts?"

"You have dethroned the former champion only two hours into his reign. How do you feel about that?"

"Apparently, you and the former champion are from the same town. Did you know eachother prior to this title fight?"

Red was struggling to keep up his composure and to form a coherent thought. Despite this, he saw, through the bright white flashes, some distance away, the silhouette of a spiky-haired little boy climbing onto his Pidgeot's back and fly away at top speed. And Red was fairly sure he was the only one who did.

* * *

 _This was originally intended as a simple oneshot to present my personal view of that iconic moment of the gen1 games. However, I've had the idea of creating a longer fic about Red and Blue for a while.  
_

 _This is a friendship story, not a romance story. If you're looking for yaoi, you've come to the wrong place. I'm not into that stuff so it's not gonna show up in my stories._

 _I love reviews and I am always open to constructive criticism and suggestions._


	2. The Oaks

_I would just like to mention that English is not my first language.  
_

* * *

 **Chapter 2: The Oaks  
**

It was a dark, stormy autumn night in Pallet Town, near the southern coast of the Kanto region. For what was probably the last time of the year before snowfall began, the sky unleashed ferocious winds and pouring rain on the small village. Thunder exploded across the countryside and white lightning bolts tore through the darkness, illuminating it for a split second just as well as the sun would have.

Inside of a small clinic, the only medical establishment in the remote settlement, a sweat drenched woman lay in a white bed. Her long strawberry blonde hair stuck to her burning forehead as she felt her insides contract painfully once again. Her trembling body had been trying for the last fourteen hours to push out the other living thing from inside her. Her husband, standing dutifully next to her, holding her hand, ushered encouragement in her ear, supporting her upper back with his other hand. A nurse, all dressed in white, stood at the edge of the bed, keeping a professionnal eye on the progress of the complex miracle that was waiting to take place.

"Breathe..." the man attempted to encourage her. "You can do it. Just breathe and then push!"

The woman nodded and took a long inspiration. When her lungs became filled with air, she gave the strongest push yet, since the beginning of her contractions, letting out a harsh scream.

"I can see the head," the nurse announced. "You have to push again, ma'am. It's almost there!"

The nurse reajusted her latex gloves and picked up a clean blanket from the pile that was waiting on a nearby table.

The exhausted woman breathed in forcefully, closing her eyes, feeling her husband giving her hand a squeeze. She concentrated, feeling another incoming contraction. When the pain hit its peak, she pushed harder than she ever had, screaming on top of her lungs, giving every ounce of strength she had left. She thought it didn't work for a second but then she felt it. She felt her newborn infant's head pass through, closely followed by its small, fragile body.

The nurse immediately picked up the precious little bundle and cut the umbilical chord with a skilled, experienced hand. She wrapped the small baby in the sterile blanket.

"It's a boy."

The woman and her husband exchanged relieved, happy looks and shared a chaste kiss to celebrate the birth of their son. The couple had decided to keep their incoming baby's gender a surprise, just as their did with their first child. They had spent the entire nine months of the pregnancy coming up with boys and girls names they could give the baby once it was born. Their first child had been a beautiful little girl. Now, they were both happy to welcome a boy into their life. Their joy was short-lived, however, when they both realized at the same time how eerily silent the room was.

The nurse had obviously noticed something was wrong, too. In her arms, the baby was unmoving. He didn't cry.

The woman started to panick, looking helpessly up to her husband, begging him to do something. The man was at loss for words. The nurse carried the baby in her arms and gently put him on the nearby table, unwrapping him from the blanket. With a calm only years of experience could have brought her, the nurse started pressing gently on the baby's chest repeatedly.

The couple looked on at the nurse's back, which blocked their view from the reanimation attempt, powerless and frightened beyong measure. She had finally did it. Their wait was over. The dream couldn't turn into a nightmare this fast... could it?

Two minutes went by. Two long minutes that felt like hours of deafening silence. Nothing could be heard except the relentless tick tock of the clock. The woman felt tears form at the edges of her eyes. He couldn't be dead. Not after the twelve long hours of contractions. Not after nine months of anticipation and meticulously chosen meals and exercices to ensure the birth of a healthy, lively baby. The woman ushered a silent prayer to whatever deity was out there, begging for it to give a chance to her son to experience the whole wide world around him...

Then suddenly, a loud wail erupted from the table and the woman felt her heart skip a beat. The nurse picked the little boy up in her arms, allowing herself to smile reassuringly to the parents. The baby made up for it's two minutes of silence by crying loudly and uninterrumptedly, flailing his tiny arms around.

"He's okay, now," said the nurse, handing the little boy to his mother who cradled it against her chest, her tears of fear turning into tears of relief.

The husband held his wife and newborn son in his protective embrace, overjoyed at the two miracles that just took place right in front of his eyes.

"What do you think, Sarah? What should we call him?"

Sarah lightly brushed her fingers on the tiny baby's forehead, mentally listing up all the names they had thought of for him. She looked down at her son... her son who had survived despite not breathing for two minutes. She wished he could open his eyes so she could see if he had inherited her hazel eyes or his father's azure orbs. A short, simple name that was not too common so as to represent him and him alone. It took her a moment to make her choice but when she did, she whispered it intimately in her baby's ears so he could be the first one to ever hear it.

The little boy continued to cry loudly as if displeased to have been disturbed from his comfortable rest in his mother's womb. He already sported a disinguishable light orange thuft of hair on top of his tiny head, just like his mother's. His eyes were still closed, though.

The woman kissed her son's forehead and offered him her breast, which he latched on immediately, avidly feeding himself and stopping his wailing in the process. She then told the chosen name to her husband.

"I'll got get Daisy," he said, exiting the room with a contented smile.

A minute later, the husband came back in, closely followed by an older man holding a young chesnut haired girl by the hand. The husband went and positioned himself next to his wife and looked on at the pair, beaming with pride.

"Dad, Daisy, allow me to introduce you to Blue!"

The six year old little girl approached the bed hesitantly, her eyes curiously fixated on the bundle her mother was holding close to her heart, which was her new little brother, apparently. Her mother smiled tiredly at her, beckoning her over with her eyes.

"Come on, Daisy. Come meet your new little brother," her mother said.

Daisy hopped on the bed, her pigtails boucing lightly and looked curiously over at the white blanket. She saw a tiny little being, barely the size of her favorite doll, jealously gripping her mom's chest and suckling on her breast without a care in the world, completely ignoring everyone else. Her new little brother. Blue Oak.

Nearby, the husband hugged his father, emotion constricting his throat as he discreetly told the older man about the incident that immediately followed the birth of his second child. Samuel Oak smiled calmly at his agitated son and reassured him with his well known calm and even temper. The elder Oak then went up to see his grandson for the first time, sharing another gentle smile with his daughter-in-law. His dark eyes found the little baby who was completely absorbed by his first meal. The sound of thunder could be heard from outside, somewhere in the distance.

"He scared us for two minutes. We thought he wasn't gonna make it. But he's a fighter. One day, he's gonna show everybody..."

The pokémon professor smiled proudly. The Oak dinasty was alive and well and would continue on for many years still.

* * *

A few days later, the Oak family, complete with its new addition, was able to return home. For the moment being, Blue didn't do much besides sleeping, crying and eating (not necessarely in that order) but Allan and his wife already had a daughter, so they weren't caught off guard with the amount of work the tiny human being represented.

Blue's mother was eager to introduce her son to everyone in the small town of Pallet, especially to the Papenbrooks next door, who had a son of their own just a few months prior. Sarah happily chatted with Margaret, holding a peacefully sleeping Blue, while Margaret held her own, quite agitated Red who was sucking on his pacifer and grabbing at his mother's ponytail. The two women exchanged anecdotes, laughs and special parenting tricks while their husbands conversed in the front yard.

The two close knit families often partook in activities together since they both had kids of the same age and lived right next door to eachother. Sometimes, but rarely, Samuel Oak would take a break from his busy job to hang out with them and play with his grandson and Red. Before long, a year had passed and Red and Blue became big enough to actually play with eachother without needing their mothers to hold on to them. The boys grew up quite a lot. Red shared a lot of his father's features, what with his shiny brown eyes and wild brown hair. His timid, yet brave nature was definetly his mother's, though. Blue, on the other hand, got his already thick mane of stawberry blonde hair from his mom as well as her hazel eyes. Red had even recently begun to stand up on his own. Blue, slightly younger, wasn't quite there yet but damned if he didn't try to mimic his neighboor's boldness and repeatedly attempted to stand up on his two short stubby legs.

One bright sunny day, the Papenbrooks and the Oaks had a picnic in the grassy fields on the edge of town and after they'd both been fed (and subsequently cleaned) their mothers sat them down on the grass in front of eachother. The kids greeted eachother the way they usually did, by swatting at eachother with their tiny hands. Red eventually got bored and got up on all four, then stood up on his two wobbly legs and started walking away without so much as second glance to Blue, to chase after a caterpie that happened to crawl around, still under the watchful eyes of his parents. All by himself, Blue quickly got bored too and started to whine, looking up at his mother as if to ask her to bring Red back. When he saw that his mother paid no mind to his krookodile tears, Blue took the matter in his own hands and started hoisting himself up on his hands and feet. He waited a bit, struggling to steady himself.

"Sarah, look!" Margaret exclaimed, interrupting her conversation with her friend, pointing towards her toddler.

The two mothers looked over at Blue who had stood up on his own two legs all by himself and was taking his first few uneasy steps to reunite with his friend, who was completely oblivious to anything around him while he was poking the big green caterpie.

* * *

 _And this was the one time Red was actually one step ahead of Blue!_

 _This was a fun short little chapter that set the base of Red and Blue's friendship. On a side note, Blue's parents are never once mentionned (as far as I know) so I had to make up names for them. Also, Red never had a last name and I didn't want to use Ketchum because that's for Ash, not Red. The name Papenbrook is not as random as it might seem. It's actually the last name of Red's voice actor in Pokémon Origins. The more you know._

 _I must be off to work on the next chapter. Smell ya later!_


	3. Shattered paradise

**Chapter 3: Shattered paradise**

Five year old Blue was roused from his sleep late at night by the familiar figure of his grandfather. The aging professor quietly stepped into the small boy's room. It was dark but he could still make out his somber expression as he sat on the edge of the bed. Blue sat up himself, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with his tiny fists. His grandpa smiled softly at him, ruffling his messy hair affectionately. The man was still dressed in his pajamas and slippers. It was unusual for him to wake Blue up in the middle of the night. Blue figured something important must be happening but he couldn't, for the life of him, figure out what.

The professor cast a sad-looking glance at the floor. It looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't bring himself to. Weird. Blue thought grown-ups were allowed to say anything and everything they wanted.

"Blue," he began, looking back at him. "I'm sorry to wake you up like this... but I have something very important to tell you so I need you to listen very carefully, okay?"

Blue's childishly honest face showed some evident confusion. He yawned tiredly but nodded at his elder's request. Samuel sighed heavily. This would not be easy.

"You know your mommy and daddy love you very much, don't you, Blue? Well, something happened... Something bad happened and they... they won't be coming home."

Blue was puzzled. His mom and dad were away on some important business trip; something he didn't quite understand and they had left him and Daisy in the care of their grandpa. They were due to come back by the end of the week. He figured that meant they had to stay away for a while longer but there was no need to wake him up so late to tell him that!

Samuel could tell from the lack of reaction from his grandson that he didn't quite understand what he had just said to him. How coul he, at his age? The man figured it would be best to just be out with it and let the pieces fall where they may.

"Blue. What I mean to say is... They're not coming back. Ever. They've gone to heaven."

It took all of the elder Oak's mental discipline not to burst out crying right there, in front of the kid, when he saw the realization slowly dawn on his face. Now, he knew what _that_ meant and his big hazel eyes quickly filled with tears.

The sight was just too much and Samuel quickly grabbed Blue in his arms and held him close against his chest so he didn't have to look at his heartbreaking face any longer. The little boy buried his face in his shoulder, bawling his eyes out, gripping his night shirt with all his might.

It was an accident. A stupid, meaningless accident that just tore their family apart; took their parents away from two children who were still way too young to know anything about death. Samuel willed himself to stay calm and collected; not to cry in front of the kid even though he had just lost a kid of his own as well as his kindhearted daughter-in-law. What kind of father would want to outlive his offspring?

What would become of them? Daisy and Blue were far too young to take care of themselves. Could he, a busy researcher well into his fifties, take care of two young kids all by himself? Samuel knew that this is what his son would have wanted but realistically, the kids might be better off in a foster family. Children this young needed parental guidance, love and discipline and Samuel wasn't sure he could provide it because of his busy work schedule and the fact that he wasn't as energetic as he used to be. At the same time, he didn't know if he could bring himself to leave the living legacy of his departed son in the hands of strangers. Only time would tell if he took the right decision or if he'd come to regret being so selfish.

* * *

The funeral was held on a beautifully sunny day. Samuel did everything in his power to make it as easy on his grandchildren as possible. Their parent's mangled bodies had been incinerated so that the last memories they had of them were pretty and peaceful ones. Samuel had kept Daisy and Blue's hands in his for the whole ceremony. At eleven years old, Daisy did her best to put on a brave face and look foward and not at her feet. Her little brother, dressed in his tiny black suit, tried to mimic her composure but couldn't quite hold back the sniffles and sobs.

All of Pallet Town was present for the ceremony, as well as many relatives and acquaintances from elsewhere in Kanto. Apart from the Oak family, the Papenbrooks stood close to the two urns. Red, who wasn't quite sure what to do with himself, glanced over at Blue during the service. He was struggling with something Red wasn't quite sure he understood.

Samuel took the kids home immediately after the ceremony was over, sparing them the anguish of the reception. They were both exhausted from the overflowing emotions, all the talking and condolences which did nothing to make them feel better. The professor himself tucked them in bed and spent the rest of the evening lost in thoughts of his own.

After Sarah and Allan's deaths, things were never quite the same. Daisy took on the difficult task of taking care of her little brother full time. It was hard on her, even though she had a natural affinity with younger children and a noteworthy maternal instinct. Blue got harder and harder to handle every day that went by. Their grandfather had to keep working morning till night to insure the income was steady and sufficient. He tried to visit them during his lunch hour as much as possible and he had basically moved into the family house to keep an eye on them.

Everyone coped with the terrible loss in their own way. Samuel drowned himself in paperwork and research; Daisy was basically shackled to the house as she could not leave Blue alone but tried as much as possible to maintain a social life by inviting friends over. As for the littlest Oak, he spent his days wandering around in the tall grass, catching bugs and ratattas with his bare hands and occasionnally taking shy Red with him.

The untimely death of his parents had changed Blue most of all. He had quickly, too quickly, stopped crying over his mom and dad but the adults around him knew he was far from done with his grieving. The little blonde boy had progressively built an impenetrable wall of defense mechanisms. He started by growing more bold, more outspoken and more blunt but it quickly spiraled into rudeness, overconfidence and sometimes, flat out agression. Samuel was completely overwhelmed by his grandson's behavior.

Blue never talked about his parents again. It was like he was pretending they never existed. He kept no photos or anything that would remind him of them. He had seemingly embraced his new orphan status; so much so that he acted like he never had parents to begin with. His grandfather knew it was his way of protecting himself against the past. By lashing out and constantly putting down the other kids, Blue was numbing the pain from the loss and abandonment.

Though they started out good friends, Red and Blue's relashionship began deteriorating solely because of Blue's attitude. He was constantly criticizing, bullying and making fun of Red every chance he got. The introverted Papenbrook kid seldom responded to the provocation but Samuel got scared Blue would actually ruin his only real frienship because of his obnoxious arrogance. They would fight, reconcile, then fight again. The professor did his best to discipline his rowdy grandson whenever he witnessed him acting out but he almost never did, and he knew that Blue wouldn't listen to a word he'd say unless he caught him in the act.

Blue's behavior reached a decisive point when he ridiculed Red for being frightened almost to tears by a suddenly appearing zubat which flew out of a random bush and into Red's face. Red actually fought back and pushed Blue to the ground. His pride wounded, Blue took Red down with him and the two boys started fighting, punching and kicking at eachother, neither of the identically sized boys truly managing to take the upper hand. Samuel was warned by a neighboor who just happened to see them in the yard while passing by, just as he was trying to enjoy his lunch break in peace. When the professor spotted them wrestling in the dirt, his usually calm temper flared instantly.

" **Blue**!" he yelled, knowing without a trace of doubt that the youngest Oak was the culprit.

The boy froze instantly upon hearing the wrathful voice of his guardian. He stopped in the middle of his hammerfisting, gulping uneasily, the word 'guilty' written all over his face. Red was underneath him, on his back, grabbing Blue's shirt and had also stopped moving mid punch. The old man was fuming with anger.

"Blue Oak, you get up this instant!"

His eyes wide with fear, the seven year old untangled himself from the other child, waiting with his head between his shoulders for the scolding that was sure to follow. Red also got up, dusting himself off and reajusting his cap.

"What did I tell you about picking fights with the other kids?" Samuel asked in a dry tone.

"He's the one who started it!" Blue protested.

"I don't want to hear it!" his grandfather stopped him right away, sighing in annoyance at the typical childish excuse. The elder Oak approached the two kids, making his displeasure clear in his expression. "Don't take me for a fool. You're _always_ picking fights with the other kids, especially Red. You're constantly wreaking havoc. I have had it with you, Blue! I have _had_ it! You're grounded for a week!"

Blue visibly recoiled from the harsh scolding, trying his best to ignore the sideways glance Red threw his way.

"Now, Blue, you apologize to him!"

"What!? No way!" the blonde kid objected vehemently.

"Fine then. You're grounded for two weeks!"The professor was unphased. Blue looked absolutely horrified.

"Bu-but-!"

"I can make that three weeks, if you want." Samuel crossed his arms, furrowing his two dark eyebrows.

That shut Blue up. The youngest Oak burried his hands in his pockets, pouting and kicking at the dust. An uncomfortably long stretch of silence fell on the trio until Blue slowly turned towards Red.

"M'sorry..." he mumbled, looking at his feet. The quiet little boy didn't react except for the grateful look he offered the pokémon professor.

The man sighed in irritation and stepped up to the quiet red-capped boy. He took a glance at his lightly bruised face and resisted the urge to apologize himself for being such a failure at keeping his rebellious grandson under control.

"Now, Red, you head back home and ice up that lip and cheek, ok? And tell your mom I will personnally come over and apologize to her on Blue's behalf." He made a point to glare at the rowdy boy who shrunk guiltily a little bit. "As for you, young man," he snatched Blue by the ear. "You will come with me."

Samuel dragged his grandson home and by the time they got there, Blue's ear was all red and sore. The elder Oak led him to his bedroom and sat him down on the matress.

"You stay right here and don't move. I'm getting the first aid kit."

Samuel went and fetched the plastic white box with all the necessary medical supplies plus a towel. When he came back, Blue hadn't moved from his spot but he was fidgeting and looking pretty nervous and frustrated. His initial flame of anger burned out, the professor approached the kid with his usual calm while still maintaining an aura of severity. He ordered his grandson to wipe the dirt off his face with the towel.

When he was done, Samuel tilted Blue's chin up with a gentle touch to inspect his cut up face. He just had a couple bruises and a slight cut on his cheekbone. It was nothing too bad and the elder Oak found himself very grateful that neither Red nor Blue had the strenght to cause much damage when they got violent, _yet_. Still, today's incident was a wake up call that he needed to adress Blue's behavior before he turned into a much stronger moody teenager.

The pokémon professor retrieved a small white cloth from the medicine kit and dampened it with pure alcohol. He held Blue's chin steady and very gently applied the cloth on his cut. The boy flinched slightly but he knew better than to protest.

Samuel repeated the process on every little cut he had and Blue stayed perfectly still and quiet, so as not to provoke the wrath of the man. When it was over, Samuel got up and put everything back in the box.

"You're going to bed immediately after dinner. And no desert." Blue opened his mouth to protest but closed it right away, deciding that it wasn't worth it to anger his grandfather again and make it worse. "And you're not allowed to leave the house for the next two weeks. I mean it!" he pointed an authoritarian finger at his face. Blue lowered his head in defeat.

* * *

The boy was quiet for the remainder of the evening. When he was finished with his dinner (without the dessert), he obediently went up to his room.

That evening, Samuel went to the Papenbrook home to apologize on Blue's behalf, as promised. Red's mother was grateful for the gesture but assured him she was not angry at him. Margaret was blissfully patient with the professor's grandson. She had been close friends with his family, especially his mother, for years and she understood that his acting out was him trying to exorcise the pain from the loss of his parents. He was far too young to deal with something like this.

"I just don't know what do to with him anymore," Samuel sighed in front of his coffee mug as he sat in the Papenbrook's kitchen. "Allan and his brother have never been this difficult. It doesn't matter how much I punish him; as soon as he's off the hook, he goes at it again."

The exhausted man threw a glance behind Margaret's shoulder, towards Red, who was quietly playing by himself in the living room. The boy still had his red cap on even though it was dark outside and he was indoors. _What a nice little boy_ , he thought. Red was always so calm, so polite, so obedient; which was not to say he was a doormat. He was awfully quiet for a child his age but underneath his shy, docile exterior, Samuel sensed a brightly burning flame of determination. Whatever Red would chose as his calling, the professor was certain he would be one of the bests. It was beyond his capacity to comprehend why any parent would want to abandon this child, which is exactly what his dad did when he decided fatherhood wasn't for him, five years into it. Margaret was a strong, kind woman and Samuel only had admiration for her for having raised such a good boy despite the terrible abandonment they both suffered. Timid, quiet and soft Red was the polar opposite of rude, arrogant and rebellious Blue. Samuel sighed for the upteenth time that evening.

"Sometimes... I wonder if Blue would have been better off in a foster family." The professor was painfully aware of how serious the implications of what he had just said were, though they were honest concerns. "I do what I can but I'm afraid I'm putting too much pressure on Daisy to take care of Blue and I can hardly keep up with him what with work and all." Margaret listened sympathetically. She was well acquainted with the Oaks' difficult situation.

"But it's not like I can send him away now. He'd take it like an abandonment. He'd never forgive me for that."

"He's still young, Mr. Oak," Margaret assured him nicely. "Blue has a very strong personnality but he's got a lot of his parents in him. He can still grow up a fine young man. He only needs something... Something to harness all of his energy and frustration into something productive. Blue is very smart. It would be a waste not to give him an opportunity to use his gift."

Samuel carefully pondered the words of the woman. She was right. Blue _was_ smart, on top of being very high energy and competitive. Maybe he should try to find an outlet for all of this that would keep him away from a bad life. He'd have to think about that, for both their sake...


	4. A life lesson

_Here you go; the next chapter, every friday as promised. This chapter turned out longer than I thought it would but I'm sure nobody will complain._

* * *

 **Chapter 4 : A life lesson**

It had been a difficult two weeks for both Blue and Samuel. Energetic and rambunctious Blue had a very hard time staying inside the house, bored out of his mind and resisting the temptation to sneak out during the day while his grandfather was at work. It was near impossible, anyway. Daisy was watching his every move; plus, he didn't want to risk angering his guardian again. If he caught wind of him trying to escape, he'd get another two weeks of confinement, for sure.

So, Blue tried too keep himself entertained by playing with his toys and video games and annoying his sister (to get back at her for making him do chores). When the elder Oak was around, he stayed put and watched the pidgey longingly as the tiny birds flew effortlessly across the sky. Unbeknownst to him, his grandfather watched him intently, wondering how long he'd be able to keep up his good behavior.

Unsurprisingly, Blue grew more and more restless as the two week punishment neared its conclusion. The blonde pint-sized troublemaker mercilessly teased his sister, hid her girly stuff all over the house to annoy her and generally pestered her by asking the same questions over and over and talking back whenever she tried, and failed, to get him to shut up, flashing his cocky smile with one tooth missing. Samuel found that he didn't blame the boy for being such a pain. Two weeks was a long time for a kid. Since he never went overboard with his antics, Samuel refrained from making his punishment longer.

Blue was up and about as soon as the sun showed up on the morning the two weeks were up. Samuel caught him as he was about to run out the door, already fully clothed and not in the least interested in breakfast.

"Blue, wait a minute," the old professor said, taking a sip of his morning coffee, still in his pajamas and slippers. The young boy froze in the midst of opening the front door. A drop of cold sweat ran down his temple. The two weeks were up, weren't they? He wouldn't go and make his punishment longer... would he?

"I have something I wanna show you, today," the professor stated calmly, letting him know he was in fact, not in trouble. Blue let go of the doorknob and looked over to him, a confused and almost pitiful expression on his face. Everything about Blue's face said: _But I wanna go outside and play!_ Samuel took another sip to try and hide the amused smirk that surfaced on his aging features. "I'm taking you to work with me."

* * *

The pokémon professor had taken good care to warn his colleagues several days ahead of time that his grandson would be visiting the lab. Some of them were happy to introduce a new generation to the world of pokémon research while others were wary about having a notoriously mischievous little boy around the fragile and expensive equipment. Samuel had assured them, however, that nothing bad was gonna happen for he would be watching the boy closely, with both eyes.

As he prepared to open the main door to the lab, dressed in his usual white labcoat, Samuel turned to the youngest Oak, who had obediently followed him up there, despite not looking overly enthusiastic.

"Now, Blue, you're gonna do exactly as I say. You stay close and you don't touch anything without my permission," he instructed. Blue looked up at him with his big, shiny hazel eyes, the fresh morning breeze playing with his wild thick mane of strawberry blonde hair. Who would have thought something so adorable could be such a handful? The little boy nodded. Samuel could almost see the aureole shining brightly above his head but he knew him too well to be fooled. The professor raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Put your hands in your pockets," he then ordered. Blue frowned but stuffed his tiny hands in the large pouch at the front of his teal hoodie. Satisfied, Samuel opened the door to the lab, grandson in tow.

The large, concrete lab was filled with desks, computers, screens, strange sci-fi looking machines and piles upon piles of paper. Left and right, a dozen of labcoat-wearing men and women busied themselves under the neon lights. The bunker-like room was slightly chilly. As Samuel made his way to his workstation, Blue looked all around him, mouth agape in unrestrained awe. The various scientists and researchers glanced at Blue as he passed them by.

"So this is where I work," Samuel said, sitting down on his computer chair as Blue came to a stop next to him.

"What do you do all day?" the boy asked bluntly. Samuel was not offended; rather, he was glad that his grandson showed some level of interest.

"I study pokémon," he answered simply. "Me and my colleagues here, we observe pokémon, perform experiments and document all of our findings." The professor tried to make it sound as exciting as possible but Blue didn't exactly seem sold just yet. "You've seen a good lot of pidgeys and caterpies around here but sometimes, people bring us rare and powerful pokémon from exotic places for us to study."

At that, Blue went from looking distractedly around to focusing more of his attention on him. "Really?" he inquired, his interest sparked. Samuel nodded.

"Here in Kanto, there are over 150 different kinds. There may or may not be even more. That's one of the things we're trying to find out."

"Can I see one?" came the natural question.

Samuel took them both to a different room; a much smaller one where tall metal shelves lined the brick walls. On each shelf, dozens upon dozens of mysterious white and red round objects sat, perfectly aligned. Blue's eyes were were drawn to them like they were made out of candy. Stepping into the room, Samuel picked up a seemingly random pokéball, clicking the central button to unlock it. Blue made a conscious effort to keep his hands in his pockets, transfixed on the high-tech metal coated ball.

He jumped back in surprise when a bright flash of red light exploded out of the ball and revealed a small toddler sized creature. The creature was covered in a scaly sky blue skin and had a protective red shell around its body. Short, stubby limbs poked out from the shell and a big, bald rounded head came out of the top end of the shell. A long curled light blue tail was held high and proud behind the bipedal animal. It let out a happy squeal upon recognizing Samuel and then curiously looked over to the smaller human with matching curiosity and awe. The two stared at eachother with equally wide and bright eyes.

"Whoa! I've never seen one of those before!" Blue exclaimed, bending over to the be leveled with the creature's orange eyes. Samuel smiled. This was exactly the reaction he was hoping for.

"This one is a water type. Squirtle. It was one of my companions back when I was a trainer."

He totally knew he'd catch Blue's attention with that. Children were so predictable.

"You had pokémon!?" sure enough, the kid exclaimed, eyes wide with wonder. Samuel smiled proudly.

"I had dozens, in fact. I haven't kept them all, though. I've grown too old for battling. I gave most of them away. Except for three, including this one."

"What's a trainer?" Blue asked, petting the tiny turtle pokémon on the head which made it squeal happily.

"It's a person who catches wild pokémon and trains them for battling. They can travel all over the world in order to find the pokémon that they want. Here in Kanto, aspiring trainers can challenge gym leaders, very powerful trainers to earn a badge as proof of their accomplishment. And after that they can go after the Elite Four!" Blue was drinking in his every word, looking at him with his big hazel eyes, his mouth in the shape of an O. Samuel didn't think he ever saw his grandson pay this much attention to anything ever in his life. It was quite adorable.

The pokémon professor had planned things to go this way. He knew that at the mention of training, battling and especially winning, Blue would be sold. He had thought about it intently as he was trying to find something for Blue to use as an outlet for his energy and agressiveness and it didn't take long for his search to angle towards pokémon. Maybe Blue would be interested in research? He definetly had the smarts for it but unfortunately it would not be a good match with his level of energy and would do little to calm his violent tendencies. The more he thought about it, the more pokémon training became the obvious choice. Blue was extremely competitive by nature and he enjoyed nothing more than victory and attention. His intelligence would definetly be an asset but the difficult yet rewarding path of a trainer would teach him about responsibility and, hopefully, humility. Nobody could win it all. Not even the Elite Four. Blue was yet too young to become a trainer, but now would be a good time to start teaching him the basics to keep him occupied.

"When you turn ten, you can get a pokémon of your own and start your journey."

The blonde boy groaned after mentally calculating how many years he had to wait for his moment of glory. Squirtle nudged his hand to request more petting and Blue's smile quickly reapeared.

"I like this one," he said simply. The small boy straightened up to his full height (which barely reached his grandfather's elbow) "When I turn ten I'll become a trainer. Then I'll beat these gym leaders and then these Elite Four. And I'll be the greatest pokémon trainer that ever was! You'll see! You'll be proud of me!"

Samuel smiled warmly at his enthusiastic grandson. It was just like him to immediately aim for the stars. It wouldn't be Blue Oak otherwise. The pokémon professor ruffled his spiky strawberry blonde hair.

"I'm sure I will."

* * *

It was a gray, rainy day in Pallet. That didn't stop the two eight year old boys from playing outside, not caring one bit about their soaked and muddy clothes. When it came to their games, it always had to be a competition. Who could run faster, who could gather as many white rocks as possible, who could climb the tallest tree... The restless duo always pushed the limit of boldness further and further every time, collecting a few bruises and cuts in the process (Red had once broke his big toe and Blue, badly sprained his ankle) but neither one cared. Sometimes Blue won, sometimes Red did but it was always a close call. As soon as the sun had risen, Blue and Red met outside on their neighboring front yards and Blue had immediately challenged Red to a foot race to the hills. Despite Blue's initial headstart, Red had managed to gain some significant ground when they neared the rocky cliffs of the town's western edge. Red saw his hand touch the big gray rocks before Blue's did but the latter denied him victory and instead challenged him to another race, this time to the top of the cliff. Again, Blue had an unfair head start, and Red struggled to scale the rocky, wet slope and his obnoxious neighbor ended up reaching the top way ahead of him.

"Ha! You're way too slow," he taunted mercilessly, flashing his most infuriating wide smile.

Red merely frowned at him, wiping off the mud from his hands on his already dirty jeans.

The kids found themselves into the woods which acted as their regular playground. The shadowy forest was silent, undisturbed by the noise of the nearby human life and all that could be heard was the whisper of the wind and the gentle sound of the raindrops hitting the leaves. Unphazed by the depressing weather, Blue happily ran across the forest, leaping effortlessly over the twisted roots and occasional fallen tree before finding one of the tall wooden giants which had the perfect shape for climbing. Agile as a mankey, the blonde kid climbed it and sat on a sturdy branch, letting one of his legs lazily dangle off the side and crossing his arms to rest his head on them. Red stood at the foot of the tree, staring up at him with an annoyed expression. _What a show-off._

"My grandpa says there sometimes are ghost pokémon roaming about in the forest when the sun isn't out," he yammered on. Red was tempted to roll his eyes. Pokémon was all he ever talked about these days and he was always trying to frighten him with stories about ghost pokémon who were nearly invisible but played tricks on people and cast curses on them. Red refused to believe him; he had never seen any such creature and he was fairly certain that Blue hadn't either.

"You're lying," he said, turning away to pick up a few rocks and throw them into a nearby creek.

"And they especially like to prey on little kids," Blue continued on, visibly not caring about what his companion said. "Some say they snatch little kids who get lost in the woods and turn them into monsters!"

Red couldn't help but shiver uneasily at the unpleasant tale. It reminded him too much of a scene from a movie he just happened to see while it was playing on TV, in which the hero got attacked by a monstrous beast at night in a dark forest only to then turn into a monster himself.

"You always tell stories!" he accused, with the hopefully not too obvious goal to reassure himself.

"I'm not," Blue refused to let go. "Ghost-types are very mysterious. They can do things no other type can. I'm gonna catch one of those one day, you'll see." Blue smirked proudly crossing his legs as if he were on a long chair at the beach, looking up into the healthy green canopy.

He did not see or hear Red slowly climb up to his level, keeping himself balanced on a lower branch. The red capped boy suddenly grabbed Blue's ankles from below and pulled, with a frightfully accurate impression of a charizard's roar as the cherry on top. Blue's eyes widened and he sat upright instantly, flailing his arms about reflexively, letting out a terrified yelp. The shock nearly threw him off balance but he caught himself at the last second, scrunching up in fetal position, giving himself a few seconds, eyes round as saucers, to recover from his fright. He went red in the face when he saw his rival laught at him from his lower perch.

"Why you-" the blonde troublemaker tried to catch Red's laughing form, laying flat on his belly from his branch and grasping uselessly at the air as the trickster jumped off the tree well out of his reach. Angry and blushing from embarassment, Blue jumped off as well and started chasing his brown haired neighbor around the forest, shaking his fists angrily like a primeape. Red zigzaged across the mossy ground, still laughing his head off, while Blue ran after him, shouting empty threats at him. However, Red's foot unexpectedly landed on a flat rock and the wet slippery surface caused him to slip. He caught himself before he fell on his face but it slowed him down just long enough for Blue to tackle him, sending them both rolling in the mud.

"You'll pay for that!" Blue threatened, further infuriated by the amused expression on Red's face. He was clearly not being taken seriously and it ticked him off even more.

The two rambunctious kids wrestled on the damp forest ground for a while, Red still laughing uncontrollably, grappling eachother like judokas, though not really hitting. Their play-fighting was abruptly interrupted when they heard an alarming noise coming from the bushes, fairly close to them. The pair stopped what they were doing, letting eachother go. Their eyes were fixated on a specific bush, from which a high pitched hissing noise was emitted. The noise didn't seem to be human. It was very unfamiliar, sounding like nothing they'd ever heard. Blue gulped uneasily, his eyes wide with worry.

"I don't like this. We should leave," he said hastily, backing up a little. Red didn't answer. He kept on looking at the bush, mesmerized by the subtle shiver it gave off. Despite Blue's warnings, Red found himself stepping closer to it, careful but deliberate. "Red! What are you doing? It could be dangerous!" he warned again, refusing to come any closer to catch him, but, despite himself, unwilling to run away and abandon his rival.

Said rival crouched in front of the bush. Behind the leaves, he thought he saw something move. It didn't seem very big or particularly threatening. Another especially loud hissing sound came and he heard Blue gasp somewhere behind him. Red extended a slightly trembling hand towards the low branches and pushed them out of his field of vision. His eyes widened when he saw what it was.

On the ground was a small purple ratatta lying on its flank, hissing in pain, exposing its impressive incisors. On its side, a wide red gash oozed with blood, probably from a run-in with a predator. The tiny rodent looked up at Red fearfully and agitated its short legs in a useless attempt to run. The small creature was weak and soon gave up trying to get away.

When Blue saw that Red hadn't come across anything dangerous, he slowly advanced towards him, looking curiously over his shoulder to see what had distracted them. When he saw the helpess pokémon, he frowned deeply and squatted next to his rival.

"It's hurt. We should help it," Red said, empathic to the little being's suffering.

Blue, all traces of fear gone, looked at the pokémon, which by now had stopped moving and closed its eyes, panting heavily, with a grave expression. He saw the blood drip out of its wound and even at his young age, he knew that the creature's life was nearing its end.

"There's nothing we can do, Red. It's hurt. It's suffering. We should put it out of its misery." The red capped boy looked up, confused, at his rival, not quite sur what he meant. Blue was uncharacteristically serious, his hazel eyes never leaving the bleeding animal. "It's in pain. If we kill it, its suffering will end."

Realisation dawned on Red and he immediately got scared and frankly, outraged by what Blue was suggesting. "No way! We can't kill a pokémon!" he protested.

"We have to, Red," Blue persisted. "If we don't, it's gonna keep suffering for who knows how long. We're doing it a favor, at this point."

Red felt tears slowly fill his eyes, refusing to harm the poor little animal. He didn't understand his rival. He was eerily calm in this situation, like he had seen it happen before. The blonde boy looked around and picked up a rock roughly the size of an apple and held it up to Red's face.

"We'll do this together," he said, then felt the need to reiterate: "We're putting it out of its misery."

Eyes filled with sadness, Red grasped the rock with Blue still holding it and the latter raised up both their hands high above the ratatta's agonizing form. As soon as he felt Blue bring the rock they were both holding down, he closed his eyes, not wanting to see the macabre spectacle. He heard an unpleasant crunching noise and then total silence. Red felt Blue take his hand off the rock and stand up.

"There. It's over, now."

Red opened his eyes but when he caught sight of the pool of blood in his peripheral vision he immiediatly let go of the rock like it'd burned him and looked in the opposite direction. Blue stood there and Red was again puzzled by how eerily calm and unphased he was about it. He didn't realize that Blue knew a thing of two about death already.

* * *

 _Maybe, just maybe, Blue didn't chose the squirtle just to be an asshole..._

 _Thanks for reading. I'd be most grateful if you took a couple minutes of your time to review!_


	5. A matter of perspective

**Chapter 5: A matter of perspective**

Red turned off the overhead light of his bedroom. Dressed in his most comfortable flannel pajamas and having just finished brushing his teeth, the ten year old boy was just about to head to bed. After he had been crowned champion and the media frenzy momentarily died down, the boy snuck away and flew back to Pallet Town for a good night's rest in his mother's home; a well deserved reward for his accomplishment. He had spent the whole evening being hugged, kissed and praised by his mother for which he was grateful, if not a little embarassed. Now that he was at the top of the world, Red had to question what exactly he was supposed to do with himself. The League wanted him to sit on the throne and battle any challenger that made it past the Elite Four obviously, but Red wasn't so sure he liked the idea of being bound by such a contract. Somehow, he felt like he had other things to do, other places to go, other people to meet.

Being constantly hunted down by the media had gotten old pretty fast. Red was never a very talkative person to begin with and being in the spotlight was not a thing he was fond of. Not even 24 hours into his new status as a Pokémon Master and Red was already sick of it. Lance, the Dragon Master had tried to convince him to stay; he told him that the journalists would eventually leave him alone and only pay attention to him when a challenger would come up to him, which was not a thing that happened often anyway, but it didn't have the desired effect on the young trainer.

Somehow, even if he offically beat the Elite Four, the four best trainers in all of Kanto, and the guy who had beaten them before him, Red didn't feel satisfied. His battle with his rival had been way too close of a call. Had Blue's Blastoise's hydro pump not just barely missed his battered Charizard, his nemesis would have won. There was no way it could have withstood such a poweful water move this late into the battle. His bitter rivalry with his neighboor had drilled perfectionism into him, because it took nothing less than perfection to beat Blue, and now, a close call wasn't gonna cut it. He wanted to go back to training. He wanted to become stronger. So strong no one would even stand a chance against him.

The child stood near his window, pondering wether or not to let it open to let the cool air of the night in. The nocturnal breeze was pretty chilly tonight in Pallet Town, so Red opted in favor of closing it, cutting himself away from the whole world and make his room his safe haven.

Stepping forward, the boy gently grabbed the pannel to slide it shut until a light outside caught his attention. The light in question came from a window on the first floor of the neighboor's house... the Oaks. His rival's house was right next to his so Red had no difficulty identifying Blue's silhouette standing in the kitchen, not too far from the window. The new champion thought it best to turn away right now. He really didn't want to see Blue at the moment. Not after what happened at the Plateau.

Red was just about to turn away when he saw a bigger, taller silhouette pass in front of the window. The unmistakable labcoat left no doubt as to who the silhouette was. Professor Oak appeared to be pacing in front of his grandson and everything about his body language told Red he was not happy. The elder Oak was mouthing inaudible words and gestured wildly with his hands. Blue remained rooted to the spot, his head hung low, looking as if he was trying to make himself as small as possible, like a kicked growlithe. Whatever it was that professor Oak was telling him, it was not pleasant.

The elder Oak eventually stopped in front of his grandson and his body partially blocked the latter from Red's view. The professor had his arms crossed on his chest and Blue had raised his head to look at him with watery eyes. Professor Oak seemed to be waiting for something and Blue seemed extremely uncomfortable and looked like he was contemplating running away. After a moment of silence on both ends, professor Oak resumed his wild gesturing and the boy visibly flinched away from him. It went on for a while until the moment Blue apparently had enough and bolted away; most likely out of the room.

Red felt strangely guilty for having seen something like that. Something he had no business seeing. The young champion felt very conflicted about his rival. A part of him still despiced him for being such a jerk to him all these years, yet another part of him felt sorry for Blue. He had always been just as determined as he was, if not more, to become the Indigo League Champion. When Red started out his journey, his objective was much more simple and much less ambitious: complete the pokédex, explore and discover new things. It was actually Blue's obnoxious taunting and suggesting that he would never be able to make it that motivated Red to try and beat him at his own game. And he did. And now he had to wonder if it had been worth it to shatter Blue's dream especially now that he himself was not satisfied with the result of his accomplishment. Red may he been young but he was neither dumb nor insensitive. After the exchange that transpired in the champion's room it became clear that the reason Blue wanted to be champion so bad was, at least in part, because he wanted to be acknowledged by his grandfather. Even if he sort-of reached his goal, it most definetly did not have the desired effect and all it got him was rejection and humiliation and Red couldn't help but feel bad for him.

Red's mother had raised him to be a polite young man at all times, even when people treated him wrongly. No matter how infuriating Blue got, Red never retorted to his taunting and provocation, though he sometimes really wanted to. _Be nice to him, Red_ , his mother had said. _Blue's just a little rebellious because he has no parents to teach him right from wrong_.

He had no idea why professor Oak was so harsh to his only grandson. The old man loved Red and was always nice to him and he was delightful with his mom but there was something... something he didn't understand about his and Blue's relashionship. Not that it was any of his business but Red couldn't help but be curious. Maybe he was too young to understand.

* * *

Blue slammed the door to his room _hard_ so that everyone in Pallet knew how angry he was. For the last few days, Red was all the townsfolk would talk about. The bastard was all over the news. The whole town was praising him and his pokémon, telling about how much they always knew he would accomplish great things and that they expected no less from him. Blue had felt the burning sting of jealousy many times before in his short life but never had it been so painful he couldn't stand to show his face to anyone, not even to his own mirror.

All of this hard work, all of this intensive training and for what? No one even talked about that! Never mind the fact that he'd beaten every single gym leader before Red did. Never mind the fact that he had beaten Red himself a couple times. Never mind the fact that he had beaten the Elite Four and became champion before _he_ did! All it took was one defeat and everything else he ever did no longer mattered. Hundreds of wins were outweighed by one loss. Such was the cruel fate of a competitive pokémon trainer and boy was it unfair!

Blue threw himelf on his bed and scrunched up into a tight ball, allowing himself to cry where no one would see him. Alone, in the darkness of his room, he let it all out. All of the frustration, all of the anger, all of the despair and humiliation. It all came pouring out like a waterfall. He cried until he had no more tears to shed and he realised just how exhausted he was.

There was something that hurt him more than being ignored, more than having his dreams stolen away from him by a cruel twist of fate. His grandfather, the man he had been trying to impress, the man by whom he wanted to be acknowledged and praised by more than anything in the world had turned the other way when he had needed his attention the most. The whole scene in the champion's room had replayed over and over again in his head and it made Blue realise how life was not like in the cartoons that played on TV all the time.

In those colorful and happy shows, even the guy who loses was praised and congratulated for his effort. His loss was quickly forgotten and in the next episode, everything would be back to the way it was before. Blue's experience of loss had been nothing like that. His defeat was a burning white hot brand that would never heal. No one had congratulated him; no one had praised him for his effort. Instead the entirety of Kanto was either ignoring him completely or laughing at his face. Well, exept for Samuel Oak, that was.

Blue had spent the most painful 45 minutes of his life getting scolded by the old man in the kitchen. Never, not even in his most intense bursts of anger, had the pokémon professor been so cold to him. It wasn't like those times when he scolded him for fighting with the other kids. This time it cut so much deeper... His grandfather had yelled at him for when felt like an eternity; lecturing him about his arrogance, his pride, the way he treated his pokémon, the way he treated Red... He told him that he _deserved_ his loss. That he was not a worthy champion. That he expected better from him... He had told him he had hoped that beginning his journey alongside Red would have taught him a lesson in humility, generosity and empathy.

Blue didn't understand why hid grandfather wanted him to change. Why did he want him to become like Red? Was he not good enough? Blue never had trouble living with himself before then. Now, he was filled with doubt and self deprecation and he didn't like it one bit. It felt like a horrible disease that had started as a small abstract idea but then spread like an infection to his entire being. Why couldn't he just be himself? Why couldn't people accept him just the way he was? Was this how life worked? Did he have to pretend to be someone else to gain the approval of everyone?

Blue's fingers tightly gripped the blankets on his bed and his teeth clenched in anger. So this was how it was, huh? He had to put on an act for society to accept him? Well, 'society' didn't know a whole lot about Blue Oak if they thought their mind games would work on him. He would rather have his dreams shattered a second time than bow down and try to become like Red. He was who he was and there was no one in the whole wide world who would change that; not even gramps.

It was Red and his perfect prodigy facade that ruined it all. Just by some dumb luck the bastard had won and that was all the people would talk about. Oh, but there was no way he was gonna leave it at that. He would make these idiots open their eyes and see Red for what he was, a lucky, overrated bastard. He was gonna make him pay for all the humiliation he had to go through. One day.

* * *

 _And we are back at where the prologue left off. I know this chapter is rather short but it was a necessity and is what I call a "transitional chapter" that separates two different story arcs. At this point, the storyline of the gen1 games is through and we are moving on to what happens after that. As far as I know, in the gameverse, not a whole lot is known about what Red and Blue are up to after this point and this story is all about filling the blanks and giving context to the very few scenes that we have._

 _Reviews are very appreciated guys. Let me know if you want to story to continue. I have the whole thing planned out already but it'd be cool to know that other people are looking foward to it._


	6. Never satisfied

**Chapter 6: Never satisfied**

Red's slumber had been light and dreamless. In his sleep, he was still aware of his surroundings and hearing every sound. And the brown-haired boy did not feel rested at all when he woke up. In fact, he didn't feel tired anymore. He was roused from his sleep by a dream. One of those annoying dreams in which he was standing on the edge of a deep dark precipice and felt himself fall. He woke up with a jolt and now he was tormented by the desire to leave. Leave far, far away.

Red took a deep breath to try and calm his quickly beating heart and shook his head, running both of his small hands in his messy short hair. He couldn't form a coherent thought in his mind except the one sentence he kept repeating inwardly to himself. _I can't stay here... I can't stay here..._

It came to him like a flash; a sudden realization. He didn't want to be a champion. He didn't want to sit on the throne all day, waiting for someone to come along to battle him. He didn't want to have to wait to be beaten before he could be released of this contract. Was there even someone out there who could beat him as he was now?

The distressed boy looked out the window to the big white disk that was casting its pale light over his bed. There was such a big world out there. So many places he'd never been to. He wanted to see it all. He used to be a timid child who felt most content in the safety and familiarity of his hometown but after all his time spent on the road, living off of his own earnings and learning how to take care of himself, Red didn't want to give up his newfound freedom and independence yet. The League didn't need him. They could always find another champion. Give the title back to Lance. Or Blue, who would probably be glad to take on the role again. But for Red, being a champion meant nothing if it meant he had to give up the traveling, the new challenges, give up being himself. Before, he had thought becoming a champion would satisfy him. Getting him the recognition and the satisfaction he sought. Blue had still come way too close to beating him and if they were to battle again, he actually _might_ beat him this time. That thought alone terrified him for reasons he couldn't begin to explain. He had to get stronger. So strong he would be unbeatable.

Enough was enough. His decision was taken and it was final. Red slid out of his bed and changed into his usual jeans and black shirt without forgetting his red jacket and of course, his cap. Taking his pokéballs with him and stuffing them in his yellow backpack, the young trainer slipped out of his room silently, careful not to wake his mom.

When he step foot outside, there was no noise save for the mysterious song of the crickets. With unwavering purpose, Red pulled out Charizard's pokéball and released the fire dragon from its capsule. Without looking back, the young boy climbed on the pokémon's back and flew up at full speed into the starry night sky.

* * *

Blue had already decided, when he got up that morning, that he would not be staying home for a long time. The warm golden sun and the chirping of the pidgeys did nothing to improve his foul mood. He felt ready to explode in rage like a primeape at the first provocation. Blue Oak was angry and the whole world was to blame.

There was no need to stay here, in boring old Pallet Town, with his sister trying to get him to be happy with the silver medal and his grandfather constantly lecturing him about his attitude. As a matter of fact, leaving Kanto completely began to sound like an appealing idea. Going away for a while, giving those parasitic journalists the time to forget about him and go make a living off of someone else's broken dreams. Perhaps exploring another region would help him get his mind off things.

Most of all, he wanted to stay away from Red. His initial impulse upon waking up this morning had been to challenge his bothersome neighboor, crush him and set things right. After all, giving up was not in his vocabulary and he prided himself in the fact that he had taken every opportunity he had to battle Red and had never backed down from a challenge himself. It would not be said that Blue Oak was a coward. However, even for how pissed he was, he still had a sense of rationality, which told him that challenging him again right now might not be a good idea. There was still a slim chance that things might not work out the way he wanted them to and he had a feeling that another loss might drive him crazy.

Yeah, he was gonna take a small vacation before he did anything else but he was gonna be back to defeat Red and for all; that was a promise.

Blue quickly went over his morning routine; brushing his hair and his teeth, getting dressed into gray jeans and a green button down shirt, putting on his black boots and strapping on his pokéball belt (because you never know when you might need them). The young trainer made sure to keep his pissed off face on when he exited the room.

Daisy was sitting in her usual spot at the kitchen table, eating cereal and drinking coffee. Surprinsingly, gramps wasn't with her as he usually was on week end mornings. Good. The last thing he needed was the old man talking his ear off with his damned life lessons.

Blue felt hungry but he didn't sit down in his usual chair, which Daisy would surely take as an invitation to start a conversation.

"Did you sleep well?" his older sister asked him innocently. Her temperamental little brother huffed in annoyance. How dare she ask him that question, as if nothing ever happened?

"Where's gramps?" he asked dryly, ignoring her question.

"He's over at the Papenbrook's house," Daisy said simply, staying calm and passive in the face of his immature grumpiness.

Blue felt his fists close tightly and his temper rise even more. What was his grandfather doing at Red's house again? Did he feel like he hadn't complimented the spoiled brat enough? This only steeled his resolve to leave this house but before he did, he would make sure to give the old man a piece of his mind. And Red too. Then it would be good riddance to them all.

The blonde trainer stomped angrily outside of his house and headed towards the neigboor's, ignoring the curious look he got from a couple of passersby. He didn't bother knocking and just waltzed right in, ready to verbally joust with the first person who would dare complain about it.

He was caught off guard and stopped in his tracks when he saw Margaret, Red's mom, sitting at the kitchen table, her face burried in her hands, crying loudly and his grandfather standing next to her, laying a comforting hand on her back. The woman didn't seem to react to his barging in but the elder Oak immediately looked up at him with surprise and anger.

"Blue! What are you doing here!? You can't just barge into people's home without being invited!" the old man scolded, his thick black eyebrows furrowed. Had the circumstances been different, Blue might have been scared of a scolding but he was too pissed off to submit. In fact, he was strongly tempted to snap back at the old man. Blue may have been young, but he was a very skilled, self-sufficient pokémon trainer and he didn't need his grandfather's help to live anymore. He had much less power over him now than he did before the beginning of his journey and he fully intended to challenge his authority now, especially since he had so little appreciation for him anyway.

Despite this, Blue bit back his first thought for a retort when he saw Margaret crying once again. He opted for a less confrontationnal reply, instead.

"What's going on?" he asked slowly, glancing over at the sad woman and then to his guardian whose expression got angrier at his grandson's unapologetic attitude.

"This is not a good time, Blue," he snapped. "Go home right now. We'll talk about this later."

"No!" The pokémon professor froze in shock for a moment. This was the first time his grandson so openly defied him like that and he didn't like it one bit. He knew the boy well enough and he knew that if he let his authority slack even just a little bit, Blue would keep challenging him again and again until he won.

"Blue Oak, you will get out of this house right now or I swear-"

"You can't tell me what to do!" Blue interrupted him boldly, his anger pushing him into new territories of defiance. He was too mad to think about the consequences. "What's going on? Where's Red!?"

Before Samuel had a chance to scold his grandson, Margaret interrupted their argument.

"He's gone... He left... Without a word. Nothing. He just left with all his stuff. I don't know where he's going. I don't know if he'll come back." The woman kept on sobbing, not caring about maintaining her usual dignified calm image.

Blue ignored the furious glare his grandfather darted at him and took a moment to process what he had just heard. Red had left? In the middle of the night? What the hell for? Why would he leave like that now that he was the champion? The young trainer found his anger flaring up again. The bastard had just left? To Blue it was like Red had stolen his birthday cake, stepped on it and gave it back because it wasn't worth eating anymore. Never before in his life had Blue felt so much like punching someone and he thought he would have had no problem beating the crap out of Red, with his actual fists, right in front of his mom right now. If he could.

"That damned bastard!" The youngest Oak huffed angrily and stomped out of the house, having no reason to be there anymore, slamming the front door in frustration. All of this pent up rage and he had nothing to let it out on!

He was not really surprised to hear the door open again and his grandfather's footsteps follow behind him. Blue ignored him as long as he could before the old man forcefully grabbed him by the arm and forced him to turn around and face him. The boy met his guardian's intense glare with one of his own.

"You will listen to me when I talk to you, young man," he said in a threatening voice. "I don't care how good a pokémon trainer you are; you live under my roof, you eat my food, you do as I say!" Blue tried to jerk his arm out of his grip but the man's grip was surprisingly strong and his ten year old body didn't have the strenght to compete against a fully grown adult. His hold was not painful but it made memories of his younger days resurface, back when he was afraid to be reprimanded by his guardian more than anything and when he would completely freeze at the first sign of him getting angry.

"Let go of me!" he demanded, gritting his teeth, glaring daggers at the researcher.

"I won't have you talk to me or to Mrs. Papenbrook like that! Ever!" Samuel yelled angrily, not letting go of him.

"I can do what I want! You're not my father!" Blue tried to pull his arm out of his grip and Samuel actually let go of his arm this time, stunned into silence for a split second. He had not expected that kind of reply. He had not expected his grandson to fight back so hard against his authority and the professor was slowly beginning to realize that he didn't have a whole lot of options to keep Blue under control now that he was a full-fledged and independent pokémon trainer. He tried his best not to show his hesitation, though. Blue was perceptive enough to zero-in on any sign of weakness like a pidgeot on its prey.

"No, I'm not your father. But you live under my roof so you will do as I say." Samuel lowered his voice to a reasonable conversational tone, deciding that a yelling contest with his temperamental grandson was not a good idea.

"Not anymore!" came Blue's unexpected reply. "I'm leaving this damn house! I'm leaving Kanto! I hate it here! I hate you!"

Samuel could not fully hide how much it stung to hear those words coming from him. From the boy he had raised and comforted through his parents' deaths. The old man was reminded of the scolding he had given him yesterday and wondered if he should regret saying what he had said to him. Their previously relatively good relashionship had taken quite a bad turn in the span of a few days, following the whole incident at the Plateau and Samuel wondered if it was too late to make peace with his ten year old handful.

"Blue, don't be silly. You just got back. You're angry, I understand. You're not thinking straight. Don't make any rash decisions while you're this angry."

"In case you didn't know," Blue started, putting as much emphasis on his first few words as he could. "I became the champion of the Indigo League. I beat the Elite Four like it was nothing. I can take care of myself. I don't need you anymore!" His voice got louder and louder with every syllable he pronounced.

Blue took a few steps away from the pokémon professor and called out his Pidgeot. He hadn't planned on leaving unprepared like that but he decided that he was gonna be able to manage on his own with his pokémon and his wallet.

"Blue, wait!" Samuel tried to hold him back but Blue completely disregarded his plea. Not sparing a second glance to his now former guardian, the young trainer mounted his gigantic bird and flew away into the sky.

* * *

 _There you go, esteemed readers. I hope you like the drama. There's plenty more incoming..._

 _What's gonna happen to Red and Blue, now? There's only one way to find out..._

 _As always, reviews are welcome, as well as suggestions.  
_


	7. I'm alive

**Chapter 7: I'm alive**

"Are you mister Blue Oak?"said a voice somewhere behind his shoulder the wandering trainer already decided was annoying.

The blonde teenager was just finishing the cup of lemon tea he had just gotten from some shop in Goldenrod and he was on his way back on the road for another expedition. Whoever was interupting his moment of relaxation better have a damn good reason.

Blue took the time to finish his now lukewarm tea before turning around, making his disinterest clear. He was expecting some pesky bug catcher to challenge him but he was only mildly surprised to see a middle-aged suit and tie wearing snob and he immediately noticed the Indigo League insigna sown on his blazer.

"There is only one Blue Oak, pal, and he's pretty busy,"the boy said, examining his fingernails dissmissively. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the penguin-suit man flinch slightly. It was a reaction Blue was used to provoke in many people. They weren't used to being talked back to by an eleven year old.

The black suit man cleared his throat to shake off his surprise. "I am an official representative of the Indigo League and I have been instructed to find you because the League wants to offer you a job."

Blue raised a curious eyebrow. He didn't know what he was expecting but it certainly wasn't that.

"The Indigo League sent a guy in a suit and tie all the way to Johto to offer me a job?" he asked in a mixture of disbelief and suspicion. "They must be pretty desperate," he then snickered.

The representative did his best to hide his irritation at the teenager's arrogance. What was the League thinking hiring this obnoxious boy? "They wish to offer you a very prestigious and might I add, well paid job as the new Viridian City gym leader."

The man seemed pretty proud of his sales pitch. Blue was tempted to spin him around and tell him to get lost but his curiosity held him back. Him? A gym leader? And not just any gym but the most respected one in Kanto? Blue vaguely remembered hearing that the former gym leader had abruptly abandonned the position not long after he and Red had battled him (Blue won his battle first, of course). They hadn't found anyone to replace him yet? Something sounded pretty fishy about this...

"Why me?" he inquired. "Why did you take so long to try and find a replacement for the old one?"

"Well, you see, the position was intially intended for former champion Red Papenbrook after he decided to resign his champion title. Unfortunately, he's nowhere to be found since he did. Considering that you have been a champion yourself, you seemed like the next best choice." Maybe Blue imagined it, but he could have sworn he heard a hint of mockery in the man's voice.

The poor fool was completely oblivious to the annoyed twitch on the corner of Blue's mouth. He had no idea how bad of an idea it was to call him the 'next best thing' compared to Red. Curse the stupid League and their inability to recognize true talent!

The wandering trainer was strongly tempted to send his Arcanine after the idiot and set his ass on fire. The League didn't want him. They wanted Red. Who did they think he was? Some pathetic kid who would gladly accept someone else's scraps? What made them think what wasn't good enough for Red was good enough for him? They didn't know the first think about Blue Oak if they thought he was gonna stand for it.

It's not like he needed the money. He made money faster than he spent it because of all the trainers whose asses he kicked during his travels and for the moment being, he didn't need a home to go to. He was perfectly content with living on the road ever since he left Pallet Town a year ago. However, Blue took note of the fact that the man had mentionned 'prestige' when describing the job. Viridian City's gym was the citizens' pride and joy. The former owner had given the establishment the envious reputation of being the toughest gym of them all and the viridians constantly bragged about it. That was before the former gym leader had all but dissapeared after both Blue and Red had fought him and now the League was missing a vital part of their system. They had to find a trainer worthy of the position. Of being the toughest leader of them all. Apparently, the gym had been closed down ever since and in the absence of a trainer who would hand over the Earth Badge, all the upper levels of the League were paralyzed. No one could come and try to claim the title of champion without the Earth Badge. It was only natural they had come after their latest champion, considering he was not interested in staying on the plateau. But even if they had found him, Blue knew Red wouldn't have taken on the offer. Knowing him as well as he did, the youngest Oak knew that staying in one place was not in his neighboor's nature. It wasn't in his either, really, but...

The more Blue thought about it, the more it started to sound like a good idea. Maybe this was the perfect occasion to win back his honor. The regain the public's respect. To show on a large scale just how much of a badass he was. It had been one year since he lost his champion title. Blue wasn't stupid enough to believe people forgot about it but it surely had been long enough that they wouldn't think it relevant enough to constantly bring it up and use it as an excuse to think of him as a pushover. There was a chance he might be able to make this all work out in his favor. But only if...

"I might consider your offer," he began, taking good care in not showing too much interest. "On a few conditions, that is."

* * *

A few days later, Blue had flown back to Kanto to meet up with the League's president and his army of minions. They had asked for a demonstration of his talents by pitting him against a random selection of trainers, to make sure they weren't hiring a flop and after Blue had wiped the floor with them seemed like a good time to tell them about his 'conditions'.

The president clearly had not expected an eleven year old to try and bend the rules to his advantage but unfortunately, the kid knew they were desperate and that he didn't _need_ the job. He had no choice but to listen to what he had to say.

And Blue had not hesitated in the slightest to impose his own rules. "First of all, there's no way I'm going to sit into the gym all day gathering dust, waiting for a challenger to show up. I will continue to be a traveling trainer and the challengers are simply gonna have to take an appointment to battle me."

Already, the president was thouroughly displeased at the idea. Gym leaders were not supposed to vacate their gyms unless they had a personnal emergency. They had to be ready to battle at a minute's notice. Taking an appointment for a gym battle was outrageous. If he agreed to this, it might tempt the other gym leaders to try their luck with him. That would be less than desirable.

"Second of all, I don't specialize in a single type. I've kicked every other gym leader's ass with my wide variety of pokémon and I intend to kick every challenger's ass with them as well."

Again, the boy defied one of the most fundamental principles of the Indigo League; of any pokémon League, really. Gym leaders had to specialize in one specific type. Specialization was a thing most trainers chose to do because it was easier to excel in one or two types than to try and master them all. Also, gym leaders were not merely strong trainers who gifted badges. They had a vital role in teaching aspiring champions about battling, different moves, advantages and disadvantages of their specific types. The Oak kid certainly didn't seem like a good candidate for teaching. He seemed more interested in the attention and the opportunity to destroy his opponents. A gym leader who used several diffent types of pokémon was unheard of but again, the president had no choice but to agree, for he needed someone to fill in for the missing gym leader as soon as possible. He had received too many complaints about trainers who were impatiently awaiting their chance to get their Earth Badge and the whole thing was casting a stain on the Indigo League's name. He fully intended to pressure his candidate into falling in line with the others once he was hired, though.

The same week, Blue hag gone to the plateau to sign all the necessary paperwork. Things started to look up for Blue and he found himself eager to take over the gym; make the building his. A chance to win back his honor, heal his injured pride and show everyone how strong he really was; that he wasn't just 'the guy who had lost his title within two hours of earning it'. A year ago, all the media had been doing was pouring salt on open wounds for months and months and the prideful trainer had constantly been harrassed by journalists and other trainers alike, basically making fun of his devastating loss like it was the one event that defined what he was about. It took Blue all of his self control not to order his Blastoise to hydro pump all of their asses. _Let them laugh,_ he had thought. _I'm gonna show 'em. When they see what Blue Oak really is all about, they'll be on their knees_.

Unsurprisingly, the viridians hadn't taken the news of Blue's hiring very well. The citizens, proud of their tough gym reputation where not too warm at the idea of not only having a new gym leader who wasn't even from Viridian City, but also en eleven year old boy famous for losing his title as a champion and not much else. They immediately assumed he would cast a stain on their respectable name and it showed all over the _Viridian Daily_ and regional newspaper. ' _Failed champion takes on the Viridian City Gym_ ' the headlines would say. Or sometimes: ' _Pallet Town native chosen to represent Viridian City as gym leader'._ On the day Blue was scheduled to take posession of his partially renovated gym, the League actually had to ask for the local authorities to keep an eye on the agitated crowd who had gathered near the entrance, more than a few of them protesting vehemently, brandishing makeshift signs adorned with angry slogans.

Blue had landed nearby with his Pidgeot and was immediately escorted to the entrance by two League officials. Not that he needed their protection but they always were striklers for procedure. Of course, the local journalists had swarmed the place and tried to push through the security fence to ask him questions but Blue didn't give them anything as he walked past them with his head held high and his expression nonchalant. They were trying to get under his skin, he knew but Blue remained patient. His time would come and they would all be sorry for not believing in him.

The gym would become his home. The upper floor, which was inaccessible to the public was where his new apartment stood. The decoration was a little overdone, most likely a relic of the former owner's passage, but Blue didn't intend to stay here often anyway. The officials had given him a proper tour of the building. It was mostly empty; nothing but a very big rectangulag room. It would be up to Blue to decide what to do with the place. He remembered it to have been a maze-like trial before but now, he had the green light to do whatever he wanted with it.

Later the same day, he was scheduled to meet with 36 trainers whom the League had selected from more than a hundred candidates, to become his sidekicks, as was proper for any gym leader. The best of them would give him a live demonstration of their talents so he could chose a maximum of six he could take with him.

Flanked by the two pesky League officials, Blue looked over the roster of various male and female trainers, all older than him, unimpressed. He didn't need sidekicks, really, but that was the one traditions he was willing to take part in as a gym leader.

"I am Blue Oak, the new Viridian City gym leader," he introduced himself casually. "I gotta chose six of you to become my sidekicks. Not that I really care but that's what the League wants... and we wouldn't want to contradict them now, would we?" He smiled smugly to one of the representatives on his side who tried a little too hard to ignore his barely hidden mockery. The trainers were visibly caught off guard by Blue's arrogance towards those they thought were his bosses but said nothing and waited for him to finish his speech. "So listen up. I'm not gonna waste my time with a bunch of amateurs. This gym has a reputation and I intend to maintain it. So only the best of you are going to get to work with me. You only get one battle to try and impress me, so now's the time to unleash the beast. Show me what you got!"

The 36 trainers, all of which were specialized in one specific type (Blue figured he shouldn't be surprised by that) were paired up randomly and battled eachother. Two at a time fought with their mandatory two pokémon while the rest spectated. Blue watched intently, noticing all of their quirks, their different strategies and their mistakes. Most of them were fairly average trainers but a few of them stood out by their smarts and resourcefulness. Some even managed to defeat their opponents with a type disadvantage. None of them could match up to him but that's why they were the sidekicks and he was the gym leader. Ultimately, he chose six of them as promised; three girls and three guys and rudely dismissed the others. The officials left as well. It was left up to Blue to organize the meeting with his sidekicks and prepare for the official gym opening for the next day.

"Show time..."

* * *

 _I was listening to Sia's I'm Alive song while writing this and it's really fitting for this chapter (and is the reason I named the chapter after it). Give it a listen if you feel like it!_


	8. Vengance on my mind

_Hello guys. As promised, I give you this chapter on friday though it has been incredibly difficult to get it done in time because I have been very sick for the past week. So I hope the quality hasn't suffered because of my foggy brain. There might be a few mistakes I haven't seen. I've had a really hard time concentrating on anything because I was sick.  
_

 _The last chapter earned me more reviews than any other and I wanna take the time to thank everyone who has put in the time to review. I really hope you guys keep reading and reviewing. I am so glad that you like what I do. Special thanks to TheSilverHunt3r and HeyYouYaYou for reviewing multiple times!_

 _I would like to answer a question that was asked by a guest reviewer, since I can't PM them the answer. This story is strictly gameverse so it will not include elements from the manga or anime. It wouldn't fit, if only because Blue has a very different personnality in the manga. Also, Gold/Ethan will get a minor role very soon but that's about the only other dex holder you will see in this story.  
_

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Vengeance on my mind**

Viridian City was in a frenzy. Today, the newly appointed gym leader would meet his first challenger. Though it was not customary, a large crowd had made its way to the gym, hoping to spectate the battle. The city's unorthodox new gym leader took appointments for his battles, unlike the others who had to be ready for a battle at a moment's notice.

Because the citizens had a chance to know ahead of time when the battle would take place, they had taken it upon themselves to see how the new guy would fare against his first challenger.

Said first challenger, a young man in his twenties, with the other seven Kanto badges under his belt, had been swarmed with reporters as soon as the news of his appointment were made public. He did not quite expect the amount of public attention he got as a result.

"Do you think you have a chance to beat the Viridian City gym leader and former League Champion, Blue Oak?" one reporter, flanked with her cameraman had asked him. After a few seconds of reflecting on his answer, which would be broadcast live all over Kanto, the aspiring champion answered:

"Well, he's going to be a tough challenge, for sure. He beat the Elite Four and all... But it's clear to me that he doesn't stand a chance. A guy who can't defend his title certainly can't defend a badge. It's been a bold move by the League to hire this guy. I'm gonna show them how much of a terrible idea it was."

* * *

Blue stood tall on the elevated platform at the very end of the freshly renovated battlefield. The young gym leader had made himself look nice for the crowd that was waiting outside. He wanted to look like a winner when they would all look at him wide-eyed after he was done wiping the floor with his opponent. He sported his most badass black leather jacket, a pair of khaki cargo pants and a pair of combat boots, without forgetting his signature moonstone pendant. His spiky strawberry blonde hair was styled to perfection. His leather pokéball belt was safely secured around his hips, with six squeaky-clean pokéballs neatly inserted in each slot. It was yet another metaphorical finger he had given to the rules by having a full party of pokémon ready to take on the challenger.

His hands on his hips, Blue stood in front of his six trainees like a general in front of his troops. Nevermind the fact that they were all older than him.

"This is the moment, guys," he said with calm confidence. His sidekicks looked up at him with excessively serious professionalism but they still seemed excited. "Our first challenger is waiting right behind that door as we speak. He thinks he's a real big shot so now's the time to show him why I chose you guys over thirty other trainers." His trainees all nodded, exchanging a few confidence-boosting words before redirecting their attention to their leader. Blue's lips stretched into a foxy smirk. "But even if you can't stop him, don't worry. There is no way this guy is getting past me."

Blue was actually hoping that the challenger would beat all of his trainees. He couldn't hope to reclaim his honor if his opponents couldn't even make it to him. He knew no one wanted him to win today but he fully intended to make them regret their attitude. He was slightly nervous, of course. This was a battle he simply could not afford to lose; if not for the sake of keeping his job, at least for his already bruised ego, which might not withstand another blow in a public setting. Fortunately, Blue was much better at handling pressure than the average trainer and he actually thrived in it. Nothing else brought out his killer instinct better than it. Blue Oak was at his most dangerous when he was backed in a corner.

Everyone wanted him to lose this fight. As it turned out, the challenger was from Viridian City, so the citizens were eager to see one of their own kick the kid from Pallet Town who 'had no business in their gym' out of there. The media were just waiting like mandibuzzes for a reason to report on his failed career and his failed return. Even the League wanted him to lose so his opponent would get a shot at the champion title and get some good publicity money as a result. If he lost, he doubted they would take away his job. They had invested a lot of money on the reopening of the gym. But they would surely use his defeat as leverage to get him to bend to the rules and fall in line with the others. He had no intention of giving them this opportunity. Blue Oak wouldn't be Blue Oak if he just gave up means to control him to a bunch of snobby penguin-suit wearing businessmen. He was gonna win this fight and every other he would take part in. No one was going to make it to the Elite Four; not on his watch.

The clock above the gym's main door chimed, indicating that it was noon. Into the large room stepped an imposing crowd which split into two groups that each took its place on the bleachers on each side of the battlefield. Among them, journalists, notepad and cameras in hand, went and took the most favorable spot they could find to get the best possible view of the action that would take place. Blue didn't pay any attention to the looks or the whispers that found their way to him. In a way not unlike his big Pidgeot did when he was hunting, his gaze was locked onto his target, his long awaited challenger, whose silhouette detached itself from the brightly sunlit outdoors.

The challenger, with his own set of six pokéballs hanging from his belt, stepped in confidently. Blue studied his every move. He was trying to look tough and back his brave televised words but the perceptive trainer that was Blue Oak could tell he was nervous. Now this could work in his favor, he thought. It all depended on wether or not the guy was like him; wether pressure would make him or break him.

The challenger stopped his march facing the first of six trainees, grabbing one of his pokéballs. A wave of excitement ran across the crowds, reaching even Blue himself. The gym leader snickered to himself as the two trainers got into position for battle. _Hurry up and come. Don't dissapoint me._

If there was one good thing about having sidekicks, it was that he got to see ahead of their battle what pokémon the challenger had as well as what moves they had in their repertoire. Blue also had the chance to observe his fighting style and how he handled the pressure of having half the population of the city watching him, not to mention the journalists.

So far, so good, Blue thought. The guy had a certain variety to his team, though he had a majority of poison types. The gym leader took mental notes of all the moves each one had and planned in advance how he would counter them. He didn't let it show but he was restless and itching to send out his own pokémon after him.

Under the captivated watch of his audience, the challenger defeated the sixth and final trainee with his Crobat's cross poison. The crowd applauded appreciatively. He took a moment to patch his pokémon up and ready himself for the last obstacle standing between him and his final badge. For the first time ever, the gym leader and the challenger's eyes locked. The room fell silent as the young man stepped up to Blue, stopping a few meters from the base of the platform. And just like two outlaws preparing for a duel, both sized eachother up like there weren't hundreds of eyes fixated on them at the moment.

Blue had his best smirk on for the occasion. He was happy with the outcome of the battles. Looks like he was gonna fix his reputation today. The guy didn't stand a chance. The challenger held his gaze without faltering, even saluting him with a nod of his head. Blue snorted. _Not so arrogant when your opponent is right in your face, are you_ , Blue mocked inwardly. He decided to play along and saluted him as well with a small hand gesture. The trainer in front of him smiled but Blue could see from his expression that it was not the kind of response he expected.

"Welcome to the Viridian City gym," Blue recited professionnaly. Then, he immediately went off-script. "I take it you have all seven Kanto badges? Otherwise, you wouldn't be here."

"I do," the challenger confirmed calmly. "I even have three badges from Johto."

"All right then!" the gym leader exclaimed, satisfied but unimpressed. "In that case, allow me to introduce myself officially." Blue straightened up, making himself as tall and powerful as could be. "I am Blue Oak, the gym leader of Viridian City. If you are not worthy of facing me and my pokémon, then you are only wasting my time."

Blue pulled one of his pokéballs out of its slot, tossing it in the air tauntingly for good measure. His challenger was silent. The crowd held its breath. "At your ready," the gym leader cued.

* * *

On the flank of the moutain, a worn rusty bike lay abandonned near a patch of tall grass. Its owner kept going up the steep slopes on foot, not bothering with the now unusable means of transportation's flat tire. He continued his ascension of the treacherous peak without looking back. A herd of wild rapidash scattered when the young trainer passed by. The boy was not interested in fighting wild pokémon, though. So he kept moving forward in silence, his youthful face a mask of stoicism.

The air was thick at the base of the moutain. An effervescent wind threatened to blow off the trainer's red cap constantly so he had to keep it in place with his hand. Above him, the clouds moved nausiatingly fast; so much so that one who lost sight of solid ground and looked up at the sky would feel a terrifying vertigo. So the boy only looked forward, at the dirt path that spiraled around the tall moutain until it got lost into the cloudy crown it was wearing.

After a year of aimless wandering, away from home, Mount Silver called to him like a siren's song. Red had done many things since he had handed over his champion title. He had explored every corner of his home region. He had caught many rare and unusual pokémon... His unquenchable thirst for adventure had even led him to the cerulean cave where, as the rumors had it, an unknown, mysterious and very dangerous pokémon was hiding. Everyone had warned him against it, saying that it was suicide to go after the terrifying monster but Red, armed with his six reliable partners was confidant he could take it on.

He had come dangerously close to getting himself and his pokémon killed. The monster had had devastatingly powerful psychic capabilities and he had no bug or ghost types in his team to counter-balance it. The creature had actively tried to kill him and not just his pokémon, as though the obviously smart creature had a deeply rooted hatred of humans. The battle had been fierce but in the end, Red was able to subdue the creature with an ultra ball.

The former champion had pondered for a long time wether or not to keep the legendary pokémon. He carried it with him without ever releasing it from its confinement for a while, hoping to learn more about the thing's true nature.

He had found out, eventually, while investigating the pokémon mansion for the second time, that the creature he had captured was a genetically engineered pokémon that was meant to be an 'improved' version of the elusive pokémon known as Mew. Red also discovered that Team Rocket had instigated and funded the project, which might explain why the mysterious pokémon had a hatred for humans.

Team Rocket wasn't known for their ethical treatment of pokémon and their intentions towards such a frighteningly strong pokémon were no doubt less than pure. It was a good thing that Red had gotten it out of their grasp but unfortunately, the pokémon proved to be to aggressive and too powerful to be tamed, so the former champion had let the ultra ball in the care of more ethical researchers.

To Red, this incident had only been a proof of what he'd suspected already for so long. He wasn't strong enough. The legendary psychic pokémon almost killed him and his whole team and he couldn't hope to tame it and make it his. He wanted to show the creature the same love and care he showed every one of his pokémon; to let it know that not everyone was like Team Rocket and its evil leader.

A poor living creature, brought into this world to be a slave to its criminal master... Red's natural empathy drove him to want to help Mewtwo.

He needed to get stronger. None of the trainers he came across on his travels were any match for him. He had to be strong to protect his pokémon and any one who might need his help. He had this one goal in mind in his every waking hour. He trained and trained in a never ending cycle. It tormented him; it obcessed him and he had no idea why.

One morning, when he woke up in one of his roadside camps, the clear Johto sky revealed to him the giant stone titan that was Mount Silver. Something about the inhospitable moutain, nestled between Kanto and Johto called out to him. It had a reputation for being more and more dangerous the higher up those brave enough to wander on it got. It was a legend amongst Johto trainers. It was like a place of pilgrimage, where only the bravest and strongest went to test their might. This was where he needed to be, he had decided. If he could conquer the mountain and all of its adventurers, then maybe he would be strong enough to be what he needed to be, whatever it was...

So Red kept on going up, unleashing his pokémon on any trainer who stood in his way, demolishing all they thought they had. The closer he got to the eternal snow of the peak, the more he lost sight of the rest of the world that stretched behind him; the lonelier his path became. The dry grass turned to ice and snow and there was no one around anymore. The former champion became lost in the crown of clouds and suddenly there was nothing more for him to see but the top of the mountain.


	9. The Ghost of Mount Silver

_Good news. I'm (almost) not sick anymore. It sure took a while but I got better. It wasn't as hard to write this chapter as the last one.  
_

* * *

 **Chapter 9: The Ghost of Mount Silver**

Ethan slipped on a patch of ice hidden under the thick snow for what seemed like the thousandth time today. The raven-haired ten year old had been working the difficult path up Mount Silver for almost three days now. The inhospitable, barren landscape around him would have been really easy to get lost in but his objective was clear; he wanted to reach the top. As long as he went up, he couldn't lose his way. At least, that's what he thought. It seemed so simple. It should have been, but it wasn't. The moutain was unbelievably disorienting. The snow, the sky; everything around him was white. It was near impossible to distinguish the ground from the horizon.

 _What am I doing here_ , the young boy wondered yet again, pulling his coat tighter around himself, shivering like a snorunt, his redened nose dripping with snot.

For sure, scaling the infamous moutain had been the ultimate test of will. For Johto trainers like himself, it was like a rite of passage. You really couldn't call yourself the greatest if you hadn't made it to the litteral top of the world. The physically exhausting climb was just a fraction of the challenge. Trainers who attempted the trial had to deal with the constant attacks from wild pokémon and other trainers. The weather would get more and more extreme the higher you'd get in altitude.

For the moment being, though, Ethan's path was pretty lonely, which he decided to interpret as a good sign, for the sake of his sanity. It meant he was far ahead of where most of the other trainers would give up; and closer to his goal.

The recently crowned champion of the Johto League wouldn't have attempted the climb right after winning his title had it not been for a strange rumor that had drawn his attention to the moutain.

The rumor had started circulating about three years ago. It had spread fast amongst the trainer network in Johto and had eventually found its way to Ethan's ears. The rumors were about a ghost that lived on the very top of the moutain, hiding away in a cave and occasionally appeared when a strong enough trainer found his or her way to him. It was not a ghost-type pokémon, they said. It took the form of a human; a young boy who never spoke. The ghost-boy apparently had an unbeatable team of pokémon at his disposal and none of the few trainers who claimed to have seen him had ever come close to beating him.

Naturally, the mysterious tale had sparked many speculations and legends as to the origin of the specter. Some said it was a trainer who had attempted the treacherous climb and had fallen to his death, spending his afterlife haunting the summit, hoping for his body to be found and returned to his family. Or a scarier version said that he was actually looking for a body to possess… Another common theory was that he was waiting for a trainer to finally come and beat him so he could finally move on to the next life, something no one had managed to do so far.

It was as much the desire to prove himself as a powerful trainer as his morbid curiosity that lead Ethan to want to find the top and see for himself if the ghost really existed. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was slightly supersticious and he frequently looked over his shoulder to see it there was anyone watching him from afar as he climbed.

The wind started to pick up, nearly knocking him off balance several times. The young trainer was now standing in two feet of snow and it was near impossible to climb any further. Plus, he was exhausted and hungry. Now would be a good time to take a break and set up camp, Ethan decided.

* * *

It was dark when Ethan reached the summit of Mount Silver in the middle of a snowstorm. The visibility was horrible. Everything around him was a gray blur and the cold was biting him to the bone. He was so uncomfortable, he couldn't truly appreciate the fact that he had reached his goal. Ethan's charcoal eyes ran across the landscape. He could see nothing. There was no audible sound except for the howl of the wind. The young trainer hugged himself tightly to try and keep warm.

"So much for making it to the top…" he sighed. There was nowhere to go but down. There was no ghost in sight. Not even a wild pokémon. How dissapointing.

The black haired boy huffed in annoyance and sat down in the snow, intending to rest a little bit before making his way down the mountain. He twisted around to reach the zipper of his backpack with the intention of grabbing his Typhlosion's pokéball and release it to keep him warm. He froze when he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

There was something behind him that he hadn't noticed before… Something red that detached itself from the dull background like a drop of blood in the snow. Ethan felt like the shapeless silhouette was watching him. A wild pokémon? Or…

The young trainer quickly got to his feet, hastily pulling out one of his pokéballs from his bag, readying himself to fight off a potential threat. He squinted in a effort to make out what exactly he was dealing with. He didn't realize that his feet were taking him closer to the unknown entity, like they were guided by someone else. When Ethan got close enough, he was able to distinguish the contours of the mysterious apparition. He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

There, just a few meters away from him, stood a boy, perhaps a few years older than himself, unmoving. There was something eerie and unnatural about his stance. He was slightly hunched over but he was also weirdly slanted and asymetrical. His head was titled to the side and a very out of place red cap shielded his eyes from his view, yet it was like he could see Ethan despite this. There was nothing to be seen from his face except for a closed mouth and pale skin. He had an overgrown mane of messy brown hair drifting in the wind. His arms hung limply at his sides. The apparition's blood red attire was totally unfitting for a cold snowy moutain. How could anyone walk around in this freezing hell in jeans and a short sleeved jacket? Unless it was a… ghost?

Increasingly nervous, Ethan pulled out his Typhlosion's pokéball, making sure to make it clearly visible to the red-capped stranger as a warning not to come any closer. He didn't. He just stood there, not saying anything. The _thing_ didn't seem particularly hostile. He did nothing but stare. But the thought that he may very well be in the presence of a ghost set Ethan on edge. He didn't want to end up like the unsuspecting victim in those horror movies. What did he want? According to the rumors, the Ghost of Mount Silver never spoke. But still, the rumors said he was either looking for a body to possess, or a worthy challenger. Ethan really hoped the latter was the right one.

The ghost-like figure looked up to him and the Johto trainer could see two dark tormented eyes staring back at him emotionlessly. Ethan couldn't really make out the color but at least his eyes looked normal. Not red like a demon's or black voids like some undead creature's. The red capped boy then pulled out a pokéball out of his own backpack with a sure hand; like it was a gesture that was many times repeated, and held it out at arms lenght in front of him, mimicking the Johto champion's pose. Ethan's eyebrows shot up. So he _was_ a trainer. A trainer who was challenging him to a battle.

No one had ever managed to beat him, or so they said. Well, regardless of wether or not this guy was a ghost, Ethan couldn't simply walk away from a challenger. He was a champion after all. Maybe he could be the one to beat this mysterious lonely trainer. Maybe he could shed some light on the mystery on the ghost of Mount Silver.

* * *

Blue smirked triumphantly as he clicked the central button of his pokéball, withdrawing his Machamp into the red and white capsule. The room exploded in roaring applause. The people of Viridian City stood from their seats, throwing their fists into the air enthusiastically. Resonating through the entire battlefield, a passionate chant could be heard : "Iron Oak! Iron Oak!"

A young female trainer sadly looked down at her demolished Victreebell. She pulled out the fainted grass-type's pokéball and withdrew it, putting it back into her bag with all five of her other defeated pokémon.

Blue crossed his arms smugly over his chest. "No Earth Badge for you. Go home and practice!"

From the bleachers on either side of them, the chanting continued, cheering loudly for the victorious gym leader. Her cheeks red with embarassment from losing in front of such a huge crowd, the trainer walked out of the gym, hoping to keep her dignity intact.

Blue ran a hand through his wild orange hair. "That's it, people!" he proclaimed loudly to the many spectators which quieted down to hear his speech. "Nobody's gonna take this badge from me!" He raised the small green jewel high into the air and the crowd cheered loudly again. "Soon, no doubt, a hundred and twelfth challenger is gonna walk through those doors. And they will be thrown out on their asses just like the last one hundred and eleven!"

The gym leader walked out of the battlefield with his adoring fans still chanting for the Iron Oak, with a smile on his face and his precious, highly sought after badge tightly clutched in his palm.

* * *

It was early morning and most of Viridian City was still sound asleep. Right before sunrise, while the grass was still damp, was the best moment, he felt, to head on another one of his travels. Blue had spent the better part of the past four years on the road, exploring faraway regions filled with strange pokémon, battling (and crushing) trainers to earn his cash and keep his skills sharp.

His pokémon had become strong; even stronger than they were when he beat the Elite Four with them. Blue attributed their increased performance and his success as a gym leader to his newly cultivated bond with his pokémon.

It happened randomly not too long after he had left Pallet Town. His boiling hot rage and frustration had somewhat died down. One night, while he was camping in the wilderness, he had looked at his pokémon like he was finally seeing them for the first time. His Blastoise, his Arcanine… every member of his team had a matching look of dissapointment and shame. He had never noticed before then, how much emotion they were trying to convey. Blue found himself seeing his pokémon for the first time for what they were : living creatures. Red was gone. He had lost his title. His grandfather refused to acknowledge him. He was far away from home, not intending to seek anyone's approval, ever again. Without a reason to prove himself anymore, Blue finally managed to see his team as more than just tools to rise to the top.

They were looking at him with apprehension. Like they expected to be punished for their loss at any moment. That night, Blue had felt something he hadn't felt in a long time. Compassion. He understood what his grandfather had meant when he had told him his pokémon couldn't trust him. They were afraid of him. The wandering trainer was reminded of all the times he had reprimanded them and insulted them whenever they lost. He finally realized the error of his ways.

Since that day, Blue had made it his mission to mend the broken bond with his team. Every day he spent on the road with his constant companions, he had cared for them to the best of his capabilities. He gave them attention, affection. He fed them the best quality foods that could be found. He trained with them daily, praising their victories and comforting them when they failed. The trainer and the pokémon had grown together from the experience

His many sucessful gym battles allowed him to finally forgive himself for his own imperfection; for not managing to defend his title. And as he forgave himself, his pokémon forgave him too and everything changed after that. They became stronger than they ever were. They powered through incredible damage to please him. They kept fighting despite the burns, the poisons, the paralysis, so he wouldn't worry. Blue never let anything bad happen to them again. Though they would have fought to the death for him, their dedicated trainer always protected them and withdrew them to spare them any serious harm. His pokémon could trust him with their lives; he would always be there to defend them.

His renewed friendship with his pokémon had changed another thing too. Between every road trip, there were several gym battles. Over the course of the two and a half years he'd been a gym leader, Blue had battled over a hundred challengers. Not a single one of them had managed to take his Earth Badge away from him. His rejuvenated team cut through the competition and Blue now enjoyed something he'd always craved : recognition.

When he had been hired to take over the gym, the Viridian citizens immediately hated him. They'd assumed he would ruin their strongest gym reputation, that he was a terrible trainer, that he had no business representing their city. Blue, however, had been patient and just as he had planned, the public had completely turned around upon seeing him crush every single opponent that challenged him. His first few victories had been greeted with skepticism and careful cheering. After his sixitieth victory in a row, though, they had started to praise their gym leader and his victories would be celebrated with roaring applause and unbridled enthusiasm. They never got enough of seeing him win and Blue was only too happy to deliver. And as a bonus, it was driving the League crazy. Because of him, they still had no official champion. They didn't have a whole lot going on in the upper levels and Blue found it funny.

He'd lost count of how many interviews he had been asked to do. The journalists, who previously wanted nothing more than to drag his reputation through the mud were now tripping over themselves to ask him questions and invite him to various photoshoots and talk shows. He had refused most of them but he still found his face occasionally pop on various magazines and newspaper along with the media-bestowed nickname of Iron Oak, which had become the name the spectators of his battles reffered to him as. It was a funny twist of fate how becoming a gym leader made him so much more successful and happy than his pursuit of the champion title ever did. The injury to his ego was healed and he was finally able to put the bad memories behind him.

"How about another trip to Johto?" he asked his fluffy Arcanine, petting his cream colored mane. "It's always nice this time of year."

The big fire dog bumped his large black nose on his master's shoulder and leaned his head down towards him, requesting a scratch behind the ear. Blue obliged, smiling discreetely.

The gym leader stepped to the side of his fire pokémon, grabbing a hold of the long hair on its neck and pulled himself up to sit bare back on the legendary pokémon. He took a moment to enjoy the new height. "Go, Arcanine!"

* * *

 _I know Arcanine is not a legendary. But it's still known as the 'legendary pokémon'. Look it up, if you don't believe me._

 _I wanna thank everyone who reviewed this. I hope you still like it. As always, I would be grateful for reviews and I am always open to suggestions and constructive criticism._

 _Boy, when are Red and Blue finally meeting again? They haven't talked to eachother since chapter 1 (if you don't count the flashback chapters)!_

 _Fun fact: a 'blue oak' is an actual real species of oak trees and the blue oak is also known as the iron oak, which is the reason I chose this nickname for Blue. It sounds pretty badass if you ask me._


	10. Drift away

_Biggest chapter to date. And the weird part is, it was actually twice as big but I decided to break it into two parts._

 _EDIT: As was suggested by a reader, I prefer to warn you. Violent and possibly disturbing content in this chapter._

* * *

 **Chapter 10:Drift away**

Blue walked through the double glass doors of the Pokémon Center in Cherrygrove City. The building was lively; dozens of trainers and workers moved around or sat at the tables, chatting animatedly. The gym leader didn't pay attention to anyone on his way to the counter, though. After leaving his pokéballs in the care of the nurse, he turned around and spotted an empty seat near the window. The teenager let himself plop down on the cushioned chair, sighing heavily and closing his eyes.

A group of trainers, kids, for the most part, chattered loudly in a circle not far from him. Blue might have been annoyed by their high-pitched blabbering some other time but right now, he didn't care. He was in a decent mood today, and though he was exhausted from his last three days of walking across the country side with minimal rest, he just let himself melt into his chair, letting his thoughts wander.

A few minutes later, somehow, some words of the noisy group's conversation found their way to his conscious mind and they caught his attention for some reason.

"You know that ghost they've been talking about that supposedly haunted Mount Silver?" one of the group, a young girl, asked her companions. "I hear the Johto League champion actually saw it!"

"No way!" someone exclaimed.

"And that's not all! The ghost challenged him to a pokémon battle and the champion won! They said the ghost had an unbeatable team at his disposal. A charizard, a pikachu... a lapras too, I think."

Blue opened his eyes. He began listening intently to the conversation that was taking place. An unbeatable trainer? A charizard, a pikachu and a lapras? This all sounded awfully familiar...

"Somehow, the champion managed to beat him on top of Mount Silver. They said the ghost dissapeared afterwards. Maybe it moved on to the afterlife or something like that!"

Blue looked out the window without paying attention to what he saw. He was completely focused on what he was hearing.

"So was it really a ghost?"

"Who knows? But, I mean, who would be crazy enough to stay on a mountain for three years just waiting for someone to come by? It has to be a ghost!"

"Maybe the champion knows."

As the conversation took a different direction, Blue stopped listening to them. He pondered the gossip he had just heard. What was that about a ghost on the moutain? A supposedly unbeatable trainer with a charizard, a pikachu and a lapras? It sure sounded like someone he knew... Someone who had dissapeared more than three years ago around the same time that ghost was said to have appeared. What an odd coincidence...

Blue snorted dissimissively to himself. _Whatever_ , he figured. It was just a stupid rumor; the likes of which he had heard a thousand times already in his short life.

The gym leader started thinking about what he was going to do, today. After four years of absence with little to no contact with his family, the teenager figured it was time for him to go back to his hometown. The prospect made him nervous but he felt like he had to do it. Though he was far from forgiven, he wasn't as angry at his grandfather as he had been when he left. It would surely be awkward to talk to him after the fiery argument they had parted on but it had been a long time. Surely they had both gotten over it?

He hadn't seen his sister in a while, either. They had called eachother a few times to catch up but they eventually had lost contact and hadn't talked for over a year. Daisy was 20 now. It was high time they caught up with eachother. He sure had missed her. She was the one who had raised him, after all.

* * *

"Oh, hi, Blue!" he heard his grandfather greet him as soon as he had opened the front door. The two shared a familiar hug.

"Hey, gramps," Blue responded with a slightly forced smile. "I just came to visit a little because things have been quiet around the gym lately," he added quickly, hoping to dissipate the awkwardness. It seemed a though it got harder and harder over time for the wandering trainer and the pokémon professor to deal with eachother given their complicated history and the less than amicable terms on which they had parted.

"Of course! Of course. Come in! You're always welcome in the family home," Samuel said, stepping aside to allow his grandson inside the house. "I read in the newspaper that you had taken over the Viridian City gym. How have things been going?" he politely inquired as they both made their way to the living room. Blue dropped his bag on the floor and stretched to release the tension in his back.

"Well... I'm doing good," he answered, running a hand through his messy orange hair. "I haven't lost to a single challenger yet. The viridians didn't like me at first and they didn't want me representing their city… but they turned around after my sixtieth win in a row." Samuel nodded in understanding.

"How have your pokémon been since you took over the gym?" he asked, the researcher in him genuinely curious about his grandson's semi-familiar team.

The young trainer involuntarely raised a skeptical eyebrow at the old man's inquiry, unsure if it was an innocent question or a way to question about whether or not he had been a 'tyrant' to them. He didn't let his mistrust show and thought it wiser to act like he didn't suspect a hidden intention to his question.

"They're fine. Better than ever, really. They're very happy to get competitive battling on a regular basis. Rhydon has evolved into Rhypherior… Pidgeot's been carrying me around for a while but I'm getting too big for him to fly with, now. So I've been training Arcanine to carry me on his back since he's plenty big enough to carry me no matter how big I get."

"Really?" Samuel exclaimed, his eyebrows raised in sincere surprise. "A trainer riding an arcanine… Now that's something you don't see every day. They're strong… and very fast but I wonder if they're as responsive as a tauros or rapidash…"

Blue could see from the way his grandfather scratched his chin thoughtfully that he had awakened the curious man of science in him and he couldn't help but smile in a knowing way.

"I can show you some time today, if you want," the young gym leader offered, seizing the opportunity to rekindle his relashionship with his former guardian. Samuel was beaming with enthusiasm and his eyes were sparkling.

"That would be great! Then, I want to know all about the way you trained him to carry you."

Blue nodded and the conversation came to one dreaded awkward pause. Samuel took a long look at his grandson, whom he hadn't seen in three years.

The youngest member of the Oak family had changed a lot since the last time he had been to Pallet Town. When he had last seen him, he had been a small ten year old boy. Now, at almost fourteen years of age, Samuel could tell the process that would see him go from a little boy to a fully grown adult had begun. He was taller. He hadn't reached his maximum height yet; he was still much shorter than Samuel was, but he was most definetly taller than his ten year old self. His shoulders were broader. His face was losing its childish roundess and started showing the defined angles of an adult. Samuel recognized his son's traits on the young trainer. Blue hadn't gotten much fatter like many other growing boys did, though. True to his Oak genetics, he was still pretty scrawny, though he looked healthy and strong. His voice didn't reach its deeper register yet but it wouldn't be too long.

Samuel still remembered how his own 'becoming a man phase' had gone and he knew that Blue was just getting started. It would have been nice for him to have a father to advise him through the process but the elder Oak promised himself that he would guide his grandson through it, if he let him.

"Where's Daisy?" Blue inquired, finally noticing her abscence. It was not necessarily surprising, though. Daisy was an adult now. She probably didn't hang around her grandfather's house all day anymore.

"Oh, she's probably out with her fiancé. I'll let her know that you're here so she can-"

"Her what?" Blue let out inadvertantly, not having had enough time to hold back the displeasure in his tone. And of course, his grandfather noticed it.

"Is something wrong?" the latter asked, crossing his arms over his chest. The previously peaceful and casual conversation suddenly took a turn for the worst and an all too familiar tension reemerged between them.

Blue winced inwardly for being so careless around his grandfather. Even if they hadn't talked in over four years, the young trainer was still conditionned to avoid provoking Samuel as a result of being scolded constantly by the man for as long as he could remember. He had learned to watch his tongue carefully around the patriarch but it seemed that after such a long time of not censoring himself, this had somehow escaped him.

Now, what was he supposed to say? Though he would never admit it, Blue still feared the wrath of his former guardian. When he had left home was the only time he had ever openly defied him and it had been in an unpreceded burst of anger; one too great for him to stop and wonder if it was a good idea. Still, even though his subconscious fear was still deeply rooted, Blue reminded himself that Samuel only had as much power over him as he allowed him to have. He was fully independant financially; he had a home of his own, a long term job and he did not feel like giving up his well-deserved freedom just yet.

"I... didn't know she was engaged," he said carefully.

It was Samuel's turn to raise a skepical eyebrow but since Blue hadn't said anything out of line yet, he decided not to go for a full on confrontation. "It's relatively recent," the professor explained. "She tried to write you a couple letters and call you but she hasn't been able to get a hold of you since you're always moving around."

 _Damnit…_ Blue made a mental note to get himself a cellphone. The League had been pestering him to get one since he only took challengers who made appointments with him directly so they surely would be glad to pay for one.

"I don't check my mail very often…" he blurted out just to buy himself some time to figure out a way to get out of the situation.

"Well, as I was saying, when she hears that you're back in town, she'll surely come over. Then you can congratulate her in person." It sounded a little bit like a warning.

"Yeah…" Blue uttered abscentmindedly, not quite realizing how thightly his fists were clenching.

* * *

"So, you're getting married, huh?"

Blue and Daisy were sitting in the Oak house's backyard, siping some of Daisy's favorite tea. The siblings hadn't seen eachother in a while and had spent the last half hour catching up. Blue's older sister was pretty oblivious to her brother's discomfort.

"Yes!" the twenty year old woman confirmed with joy. "I mean, not right now. We're waiting until our finances allow it and we move in together. But we're engaged! It's like a dream come true!"

Blue's only response was a nod as he looked off into the distance, wishing he could be anywhere except here at the moment. Why did he ever come back to Pallet Town, anyway? His visits to his hometown never seemed to end well.

It seemed that Daisy finally noticed his lack of enthusiasm and his unwillingness to provide the usual congratulations for such news.

"Whats's wrong, Blue? I thought you'd be a little happier for me."

The young trainer couldn't help but snort at that. They may have been siblings but Daisy apparently didn't know him that well if she thought he'd be happy about that.

Her new fiance was one of their grandfather's assistants whom she had met some time when he was away, when she had gone up to the lab to bring Samuel some lunch. The guy was a 22 year old technician who did most of his work on computers. Daisy told him he was nice, smart and handsome and Blue had to refrain from gagging at the description.

The youngest Oak had known his sister all his life and he had seen her go through many phases. She had almost singlehandedly raised him while their gramps worked to feed them so he knew her well and was pretty in tune with her moods and her ups and downs. He knew his sister to be a smart, capable young lady; as soft as a ribombee. They had both been orphaned pretty young but Blue had a least sweet little Daisy Oak to care for him and it helped him understand how girls worked. They weren't as much a mystery to him as they were for most guys his age. However, for as nice and smart as she was, she was also plagued with a very deep-rooted need to be loved. Considering she was six years older than he was, she had known their parents longer and better than he did. Their sudden abscence had left a hole in her heart; a feeling of loneliness that contantly needed to be attended to. Though Blue loved her with all his heart, he was not the most demonstrative person in the world. In fact, love was the thing he had the most trouble expressing. Samuel had always been very busy, so even though he had been as loving a guardian as a grandfather could be, he had hardly been a replacement for their departed parents.

This need to be loved led Daisy into many different relashionships with almost any guy her age that paid attention to her. And she was bound to attract attention from the opposite sex. She was beautiful; she had long flowing chesnut hair, a pretty face, a fair complexion, big blue eyes and a petite frame. Unfortunately. She was also terribly naive.

When they were both younger, Blue remembered her always talking about her wish to be a princess and to meet her prince charming. As far back as he could remember, she had wanted to have her fairytale wedding and live happily ever after. She couldn't understand, it seemed, that men were not like that. All in all, her very way of being was a recipe for disaster. She almost systematically attracted the wrong kind of attention. Guys who were only interested in the physical part of the relashionship, guys who were unwilling to commit, guys who treated her like she was an expensive piece of jewelery to be showed off, cheaters...

How many times had he seen her come home in tears because her boyfriend of the moment was not who she thought he was. For Blue, seeing her get her heart broken over and over was as painful as it was frustrating and he subconsciously cursed himself for not being a more loving brother. He was always caught between her and his difficult relashionship with their grandpa which only drove him away some more. It was unfortunate but there was no changing her now.

When Blue had heard about her engagement with Samuel's assistant, given her past history of heartbreak, he was understandably skeptical. The gym leader vaguely knew the guy but it was enough for him to know that he was a sweet talker. He was what Daisy would consider handsome and gentlemanly but Blue didn't buy his persona one bit. He was too perfect; like he was tailor-made for Daisy to fall in love with and regardless of the fact that this was her most long-lasting relashionship to date, Blue was certain things would sour sooner or later; they always did. He didn't want his sister hurt again. He was convinced that their upcoming marriage was headed straight for a wall.

"Don't you think you're moving a little too fast, Daisy?" he asked carefully.

"I know he's the one. I just know. He loves me."

Blue sighed. He didn't know what 'being a good brother' would be in this situation. Be supportive and give her his blessing to make her happy? Or follow his intuition and warn her against it? He knew the former was what she wanted to hear but he wasn't convinced she knew what was best for her.

"Blue," she said, breaking the silence and laying a gentle hand on his arm to get him to look at her, which he did out of respect. "Since mom and dad aren't around anymore..." The youngest member of the Oak family's eyebrows furrowed in apprehension. "Would you walk me down the aisle?"

Blue's eyes widened with a mixture of disbelief and anger. He quickly recovered from the shock, though, and his displeased frown returned.

"I will do no such thing," he answered without a trace of hesitation, pulling his arm away from her gentle grasp. Her previously happy smile vanished instantly.

"Why not?" she asked, totally confused.

Blue put down his cup of tea and got up, pacing back and forth like he did when he was frustrated; something he unknowingly picked up from Samuel.

"You're asking me for my blessing. To 'hand you over' to that guy and I'm sorry but that's just not gonna happen."

"Why not? We're in love! We want the world to know. This is gonna be my perfect day. I want my little brother, whom I've cared for since he was five, to be a part of it!"

Blue flinched when she brought the 'I've raised you' card. He felt a pang of guilt upon hearing it and seeing the hurt in her big bright eyes but he was not letting himself being blackmailed into doing this.

"That guy is not good for you," he argued, refusing to let go.

"You don't know anything about him," Daisy retorted, getting angry herself. "He's a good guy. He treats me well and he loves me!"

Blue couldn't help but roll his eyes. "How many times have I heard that? How many guys have you said that about? And how did it end huh?!"

Daisy was either too stunned or too angry to respond.

"It ends with you crying and me wondering why you haven't learned your damn lesson yet!" Blue knew his temper was getting out of hand now and that his words were way too harsh, considering he was trying to do her a favor, but he couldn't help it. He loved her. He was worried about her. But it was the only way he knew to show her that he cared.

"Blue, why are you doing this? I thought you'd be happy for me!"

It would have been so simple to say: 'Because I care about you and don't want you to get hurt again!' but for some reason, the words would never get past his lips. He could only clench his teeth and continue his pacing.

"You're making a big mistake and I'm not gonna encourage you," he said dryly.

"Oh, my fourteen year old little brother who never had a girlfriend thinks he knows better than me what's good for me!" Daisy yelled indignantly, getting up as well and nearly spilling her tea on her clothes. "You don't know him! Are you really so full of yourself you think I'm too stupid to know what's best for me? Is that it!?"

Blue resisted to urge to answer with the affirmative, which would surely not go over well, and instead glared at her. She was dangerously close to personnally insulting him now and considering she knew very personnal and sensitive things about him and feeling that if the conversation went on much longer, he would say things he would later regret, he buried his hands in his pockets as a sign that he was ending the discussion and not changing his mind.

"Whatever, Daisy. You're an adult. You can do whatever the hell you want. But there's no way I'm coming to that wedding to watch you throw your life away for this... poser! Don't bother sending an invitation, 'cause I'm not coming!"

Blue walked away back into the house without waiting for her reply.

* * *

When the sun fell over the horizon was the moment it got bitterly cold on Mount Silver. Red had no choice but to retreat back into his cave so that he didn't end up an icicle decorating a froslass' lair. After yet another day of making his pokémon battle eachother, he would withdraw the tired beasts into their comfy capsules save for his Charizard which he kept close to him for warmth and light, his fiery tail illuminating the treacherous path to his fortress of solitude. Red was grateful his pokémon couldn't talk.

He could see it in their eyes, the doubt, the confusion and even a tiny bit of resentment for bringing them to this god-forsaken place. He could see it but it didn't matter. They needed to get stronger; so strong they would be unbeatable. Only then could he come down the moutain and face the world again. Their loss was unacceptable.

Red had no idea how long he'd been up there. Day or night, it was all a blur. He had no idea what month or even what year it was. Everything looked the same on the frozen peak; like it was so far away from everything that not even time could reach it. The only hint of its passage was his continuously growing hair which was now a horribly tangled mess that reached the center of his back.

The nights were always the worst for Red. Sitting alone in the ghostly silence of the cave, in a darkness so opressive he felt it ensnare him like a spider web, his sensorially deprived mind began to drift into his most unpleasant places.

The fallen champion had realized some time ago that he was losing his mind. Alone in the dark, he started hearing things. It started out unintelligible murmurs; like words spoken from behind a thick glass. Over time, though, they became clearer and clearer. He could almost never remember what they said. Like they were part of a dream he would forget minutes after waking up but one thing he did remember was how awful they made him feel.

They were scary. They would say awful things about him. They would tell him to do things he didn't want to do. After a while, they began to threaten to kill him or tell him that someone was coming to kill him. They would keep him awake all night sometimes and when they would finally quiet down, he would find himself standing in a random corner of the cave, not remembering how or why he got there. He would push himself and his pokémon even harder in training, hoping to drive away the persistant voices by wearing himself out so much that he would have no choice but to sleep. Unfortunately for him, though, not even in his sleep could he catch a break from his torment.

Though time was nothing more than a vague concept to him at this point. One thing he knew for sure now was that he had lost. There was this black-haired kid that came up to him on the moutain and Red had challenged him to a battle. Only the strongest trainers could make it up the moutain. Battling them was the ultimate test of his skills. And he had failed. One after the other, his pokémon fainted and he was left with nothing more to do than punish himself for his own failure.

He started having dreams; nightmares so horrible he would wake up drenched in sweat despite the biting cold. He started seeing faces he would recognize. He often dreamed of the Elite Four who would sometimes heap praise on him or sometimes lock him up in a room filled with monstrous looking people whose eyes emitted flashes that would blind him. Other times, it would be professor Oak putting a gun or some blunt weapon in his hand and beckoning him to kill the pokémon of his defeated, faceless opponents. But, by far the worst ones were his nightmares about his long lost rival. They didn't come up as often as the others but they felt so real they pushed him closer and closer to insanity everytime.

Blue rarely appeared in some surreal, faraway place. His silhouette would unnaturally detach itself from the pitch dark of the cave and walk towards him, bearing that same dreadfully hateful glare he had darted at him in the champion's room and leap at him with a knife in hand. Red would wake up still feeling the pain from the imaginary stab wounds that his rival had 'inflicted' upon him. Everytime Blue came to murder him, Red was helpless to stop him. However, there were a few instances where the roles were reversed.

In this dream, they would both be in the champion's room. Blue would be on his knees and Red would be standing a few paces away from him, his own face twisted in a foreign sick cruel grin not unlike a gengar's. Blue's pokéballs would be scattered around, broken and rusty, and he would lay there, defenseless, like a prisonner waiting for his executionner to bring down the blade of the guillotine. And Red would watch himself clamp his hands tightly around Blue's neck and choke the life out of him. His rival would punch, kick, scratch and trash against his hold for unbearably long minutes but his struggling was as effective on this monstrous version of Red as a tackle on a steel type and sooner, rather than later, his eyes would roll in the back of his skull and he would go limp in his grip like a doll. Then and only then woud he release his hold and watch his rival's dead body crumble on the ground, wondering why he did what he did.

How much time had passed? Days? Months? Years? One thing was sure, however: his hallucinations got more and more violent and more and more real. He was hoping to whatever deity was out there that it wasn't a reflection of his own darkest desires. He was not a murderer. He was a good person! It was difficult to reassure himself with that, though; he didn't know what was real and what wasn't anymore. He could already have murdered Blue and was hiding up there for all he knew. This frozen peak could very well be his jail cell, his purgatory, while he waited for his judgment.

Red spent his days afraid of being murdered and his nights afraid of murdering someone. He trained and trained and trained obsessively until his pokémon collapsed in exhaustion. It was never enough. His mind was the same as the moutaintop: lost in a sea of clouds and frozen in time. He was slowly fading away, becoming one with the moutain, not seeing himself grow dirtier and dirtier, thinner and thinner... weaker and weaker...

* * *

 _I swear not every chapter is gonna be this weird and surreal. This idea came up to me because I happen to work in the psychiatric ward of a hospital so I hear about this kind of story (and witness a whole lot of weird and nasty stuff on a daily basis) all the time._

 _What Red is experiencing is an actual diagnosable condition known as psychotic depression. In a nutshell, it's a severe depression that's accompanied with psychotic symptoms including delirium and hallucinations. For instance, Red experiences delirium in the form of believing someone is out there to kill him and hallucinations in the form of seeing things that are not real, feeling pain that is not real (like the 'stab' wounds) and hearing voices. Most people mix up psychotics and psychopaths but they're two very different disorders that actually rarely go hand in hand._


	11. Who's to say who's right or wrong?

_Here you go; chapter 11. You better be grateful. I got scolded TWICE this week for writing it while I was at work, lol.  
_

 _Careful, Blue's dropping an F bomb in this one._

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Who's to say who's right or wrong?**

Blue sat at the kitchen table, slowly sipping a cup of steaming hot tea. It was relatively late; around midnight, and the peaceful village was mostly asleep under the black sky. His heart was heavy, tonight. The feud he had with his sister earlier today had kept him wide awake, despite the fact that he was physically and mentally exhausted from the trip and the family stuff. He felt horrible because of it. Not because he felt guilty; he was still profoundly convinced he was right but he hated the thought that being right hurt Daisy's feelings so badly. Blue sighed.

Why couldn't he make her see? Blue rested his forehead in his palm. Why did he end up hurting those he loved the most, however few they were, like Daisy and his pokémon? Why couldn't he just tell her the _real_ reason why he didn't want her getting married? He knew his sister had cried because of him. Why couldn't he control his damn temper once in a while, he even surprised himself wondering. Why? Why? Why?

The youngest member of the Oak family had always been at peace with who he was. He was well acquainted with his good and his bad sides and he didn't feel the need to change anything about his way of being. Except in the presence of his family, that was. Both his grandfather and his sister made him feel like a bad person. They weren't the first people to call him selfish, arrogant, obnoxious, short-tempered and mean but they were the only two people in the world who could still make it past the protective barrier around his heart and make him vulnerable and self-conscious. And he hated it. He hated that they held this power over him to make him doubt and regret who he was.

"Blue," a deep, serious voice called from somewhere behind his shoulder. He didn't need to turn around. He knew who it was. And he knew what this was gonna be about.

He didn't answer; instead taking a sip of his tea, waiting for his grandfather to sit down for yet another unpleasant conversation. When Samuel took a seat next to him, the pair exchanged a meaningful look. The patriarch looked tired; grayer than he was three years ago and unwilling to fight. He looked just as eager to start talking as Blue was, which was to say, not a lot.

"Daisy came up to me today and she looked very upset," he began. Blue had to roll his eyes at how he saw it coming a mile away. "You want to tell me what this is about?"

"Not particularly," Blue responded, deliberately not looking at him. Samuel snorted. He was having none of his grandson's teenage moodiness.

"She told me you refused to go to her wedding because you think her fiancé is no good for her."

Blue visibly tensed at the mension of Daisy's fiancé.

"That sums it up pretty well," the gym leader hissed, making a conscious effort to keep his temper in check.

" _Why_ would you say something like that?" the professor persisted.

"Because it's the truth, okay!?" Blue snapped suddenly, slapping his hand on the table. "This guy is a poser and a liar and I'm not gonna hand Daisy over to this piece of-"

"Blue!" Samuel interrupted his rant. "I know her fiancé. I work with him everyday. He's a good man. I wouldn't sit by if I thought Daisy was making a mistake chosing him." The elder Oak could already tell none of his words were having any effect on the brick wall that was Blue.

"I don't care what _you_ think!" the young trainer spat. "And this is none of your business anyway!" He was getting worked up but Samuel remained calm.

"Why is this making you so angry?" he simply asked.

"What?" Blue was caught off guard.

"Hmm... I know what this is about," the professor said, crossing his arms over his chest. Blue narrowed his eyes mistrustfully.

It was obvious in retrospect. No man would ever be good enough for Daisy, in Blue's eyes. He was just afraid to let his sister, whom had cared for him since their parents died, go. He was afraid to lose the only comforting presence of his life. Daisy was like his surrogate mother as much she was his sister. This was why he was so fiercely protective of her and Samuel knew better than anybody how explosive a defensive Blue could be.

His grandson was staring at him with wide, angry hazel eyes but Samuel maintained his well known calm and passiveness. When it came to his headstrong grandson, he couldn't fight fire with fire. There was no winning a yelling contest with him. Instead, Samuel opted to defuse the metaphorical bomb by smiling in a knowing way, which had an immediate effect. Blue scowled but visibly relaxed.

"Oh, Blue," Samuel sighed, shaking his head slowly. "You really are clueless when it comes to people you care about."

"What are you talking about!?" the gym leader said impatiently.

Blue used to be a nice, peaceful kid before the death of his parents. After that, he grew rebellious, arrogant and aggressive. He had toned down his violent tendancies significantly since he had become a trainer. Nowadays, Blue was more calm and aloof. Insults and provocations bounced off of him like pebbles on a bulletproof vest and his natural self confidence carried him through difficult situations with relative ease.

However, it was a whole other story when the conflict was about or from his family. Blue was extremely sensitive when it came to his relatives. Everything that was said by or about his grandfather or sister blew right past his defenses and hit him right in the heart. This is how Samuel knew that his fiery childhood temper was better controlled now than it used to be, but definetly _not_ gone. The elder Oak knew to thread carefully as he talked about Daisy with him because the blonde teenager could go from a zero to a ten in the blink of an eye.

"Blue, I understand that you love your sister and that you're afraid to let her go," Samuel began calmly. "but she's twenty. You gotta learn to let these things go." The young gym leader looked away, nervously drumming his fingers on the table. "Don't look at this like it's goodbye. She won't stop being your sister just because she's getting married."

Blue was still not looking at him and he was fidgeting impatiently in his seat.

"It would mean a lot to her if you came to her wedding and walked her down the aisle," the pokémon professor pursued, fully aware that he was crossing into dangerous territory.

"No!" Blue snapped violently, getting flustered again. "I am _not_ handing her over to that guy! I don't care what you say! And this is none of your business!"

The strawberry blonde teenager got up, fully intending to leave but his former guardian's voice stopped him momentarily.

"Blue, you're gonna have to learn to swallow back your pride because it's gonna get you in some real trouble one of these days. And you're gonna end up hurting people you really care about."

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you!?" Blue hissed. "For me to be a quiet humble perfect little grandson. Someone you could control like a puppet so as not to bring shame on the respectable Oak name!" The youngest member of the family started angrily, pacing around. "Well, guess what, old man..." His tone switched from loud to low and dangerous. "I'm not what you want me to be. I'll never be what you want me to be. I don't need you. You can't control me and _you_ (he pointed an angry finger at his elder) are gonna have to learn to accept _that_!"

Samuel remained silent for a long moment while Blue was slowly calming down after his outburst. The researcher sighed heavily, his heart aching from not being able to repair his broken bond with his son's son. It was obvious Blue still held a grudge against him; it oozed from every pore of his being whenever they talked and Samuel honestly didn't know what to do to set things right.

Blue was surrounded by a mental barrier he had set up to cope with his parents' deaths and every year that went by it became harder and harder for the elder Oak to get past it and he knew Blue was desperately trying to push him away out of his vulnerable heart. He was afraid one day his grandson would close up completely and that he would lose him for good.

"Blue, I'm not trying to control you," he finally said, not hiding his sadness. "But this is very important to Daisy. If you don't do this, she might never forgive you."

The young trainer said nothing for a whole minute and Samuel was hoping; praying that the message would get through his thick skull for once. He seemed to consider it; his expression visibly softened but before anything else could be said, Blue walked away out of the kitchen and up to his old room.

Alone in the kitchen, Samuel sighed again. 'He's a fighter' Allan used to say about his miracle survivor of a son. Well... he hadn't been wrong about that.

* * *

Blue sat on his bed, petting his jolteon, who was curled up in a spiky yellow ball next to him, trying to calm himself down and forget about his family troubles. He didn't know what to do... Or rather, he knew what he _didn't_ want to do and that was, not coming to Daisy's wedding. And of course, the old man had to get involved...

Blue looked around his childhood room. It had ceased to feel like home a long time ago. Pallet Town was not really a home anymore. Not even his gym felt like a home. He didn't belong anywhere. He was a wanderer and his only real friends were his pokémon.

Blue lied down on his back, still fully clothed, on his bed, one arm acting as a pillow, while the other kept stroking the electric pokémon's fur. This house; this town, held too many painful memories. Some of the worst experiences of his life, and some, happy memories of a time long past. _What the fuck am I doing here?_

His distraught mind started to drift into places they hadn't been in a long time.

 _Blue was playing in the grass of the green hills of Pallet Town's surrounding fields, under the watchful eyes of his father. The five year old little boy ran tirelessly left and right, picking up rocks and discarding one whenever he found a prettier one. Father and son were on their way back home from a little trip to the beach. The energetic child ran ahead of his dad on the path while Allan calmly followed, smilling proudly at his restless son._

 _"_ _Look at this one, dad!" Blue stopped, holding one of his rocks up high, brightly smiling and showing off his missing canine. "It's shaped like a butterfree!"_

 _"_ _You're right!" Allan played along. "You should keep this one. It's the best one you've found so far!"_

 _"_ _I'm gonna give it to mommy!" the strawberry blonde boy declared. Allan laughed lightly, watching Blue resume his running, his tiny green sandals kicking up dust. He sure liked to go fast, he thought._

 _The little boy ran down a short inclined hill and his foot unexpectedly caught in a mound of dirt hidden in the grass. He fell face first into the gravel of the path, dropping his precious rocks in the process. Allan's smile vanished and he sped up into a fast walk to check on his son._

 _Blue pushed himself off of the ground and sat up on his heels. His big shiny hazel eyes started to fill with tears, staring sadly at his scratched palms. Allan crouched down next to him, seeing his son's face covered in tiny bloody cuts. Small red drops rolled down his cut up forehead onto his chin._

 _Allan put a comforting hand on the small boy's back, sitting him down in the grass to check for any more serious injury. Seeing none, Allan smiled, ruffling his spiky hair affectionately. Blue looked at his slightly bloody hands and then up at him, sniffling loudly, tears threatening to spill out._

 _"_ _Look at you!" Allan exclaimed enthusiastically. "Look how tough you are! Your face is all cut up and you're not even crying!"_

 _Blue's tragic expression instantly changed to one of surprise and upon seeing his father smilling and laughing it off, he slowly started to forget the sting of the cuts to smile and laugh along with him. Suddenly, his palms and face didn't hurt so much anymore and his tears dried off soon after._

Blue felt a dull pain, like that of an old injury, deep within his heart. He didn't know why he was thinking about that now. He hadn't though of _them_ in a long time. He didn't want to and this whole house was a harsh reminder of why.

* * *

Blue was up as soon as the sun made its appearance on the horizon. No one else was awake in the Oak household yet and that was exactly what he wanted. After yesterday's altercations with his family, it became clear to him that he was no longer welcome here, so he quickly packed his stuff, fully intending to head back to the gym before anyone had the chance to bother him some more. The fourteen year old didn't bother with breakfast. He exited his old room silently, his leather jacket lightly gleaming in the orange sunrise, his bag on his shoulder. He was in no mood to talk. He pushed the front door open and stepped out in the still sleeping Pallet, not sparing a glance back at the family house. It had ceased to be a home for him quite some time ago.

Blue pulled out his Arcanine's pokéball and clicked it unlocked but he jumped ever so slightly when he heard a soft timid voice call out to him. He hadn't expected anyone to notice him.

When he turned around, he saw Margaret, Red's mother, standing on the porch of her own house, a kind smile like he rarely saw these days on her slowly aging face. Her auburn hair was tied in a loose braid which fell on her shoulder and she was wearing a simple striped sundress. He noticed she was holding something shyly behind her back.

Blue momentarily interrupted his plans of a discreet escape and turned to face the woman who used to be his neighboor. Even in his days as a troublemaker, Margaret was a woman Blue could never bring himself to disrespect. She had been nothing but nice to him in all the years he had known her and though he would never admit it, not even to himself, Blue was deeply envious of Red for having such a dedicated mom. She stepped closer to him. Her eyes were tired but her smile remained.

"You're leaving already?" she inquired, stopping a few paces from the boy she had known since the craddle. Blue looked at his shoes for a moment, feeling strangely guitly for reasons he couldn't really explain.

"Yeah. I got business back at the gym," he finally answered. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't really the reason for his leaving. Margaret nodded thoughtfully. She seemed like she wanted to say something.

"Well... since you do a lot of traveling around, I was wondering if I could ask you a small favor," she finally said. Blue raised a curious eyebrow when she showed him the object she was holding which, as it turned out, was a whole pile of letters tied together by a rubber band. He saw that the one on top had a big bright red sticker on it that said 'return to sender'. "If you ever come across Red during your travels... could you give him these for me?" Her smile was gone and her eyes started to water. It was strange. Blue's memory of the woman had always been of her being very tall. But now, she had to look _up_ at him and she seemed smaller and frailer than he remembered her being. Blue had grown a lot in the last couple of years but he still had to get used to how quickly the world was changing perspectives around him.

Blue was deeply uncomfortable with the woman crying in front of him. _What a bastard_ , Blue thought. Red had all but vanished without a goodbye after he had abdicated his champion crown and the moron hadn't ever bothered to communicate with his mom since. She had written all those letters for him, none of which had found the person they were intended for and Red was off somewhere being an idiot. And idiot that was too idiotic to realise how lucky he was. He certainly didn't feel like doing something nice for the rat but he couldn't bring himself to say no to Margaret Papenbrook.

Blue took the package she was holding slowly, feeling how important it was to her and nodded, stuffing the letters in his backpack.

"If you want," he began hesitantly, running a hand through his hair. "I can smack him upside the head for you." He smiled a little bit to try and cheer her up. She did smile up at him and laughed lightly.

"Yes, that would be nice. Thank you!" she said and then she hugged him.

She _hugged_ him. Blue froze at the unfamiliar gesture. How long had it been since someone hugged him? The young gym leader did not try to pull away but he felt a strange feeling stir inside of him. It was like an unidentifiable mixture of gratitude, sadness and nostalgia. _What a bastard_ , Blue thought again as he let himself relax in the affectionate gesture. Margaret did not let go of him for a full minute and Blue could tell from her slight shivering that she was trying to compose herself before she pulled away. The gym leader decided to pretend like he didn't notice and waited for her to let go of him. The kind woman released him but her hand lightly brushed his cheek and a sad smile graced her features.

"You're a good boy... No... You're a good man, Blue Oak," she said, her gleaming eyes looking at his like she could see deep into his soul. "Your parents would be proud."

Blue reflexively pulled his face away from her hand at the mention of his parents. Margaret could almost see the ten years worth of defense mechanisms kick into action on the boy in front of her as he stepped back, averting his eyes from her, closing off like a cloyster before her very eyes. Not since he was five years old had Blue ever wanted to talk about his parents and Margaret could see it in his hazel orbs, the pain, the sadness from the loss of his parents even though he tried very hard to hide it.

"I gotta go," he said, taking a few steps back, releasing his massive Arcanine and jumping gracefully on his back. Margaret simply watched as Blue commanded his fire dog to start running only to dissapear outside of the village limits.

* * *

 _Blue and Samuel are not cool yet..._

 _This chapter is a lot about family conflict. Speaking from personnal experience, these things can get nasty very quickly. The thing between Blue and Daisy is inspired by something that I've actually seen happen in real life. And the small flashback with Blue and his dad was a last minute addition that I thought would be nice for character developpment and because we barely got to see any interaction between Blue and his parents on account of them being dead..._

 _That last bit with Blue and Red's mom was written a long time ago and I really like it for some reason. I hope you guys like it too!_

 _Thanks to everyone who reviews and I hope to hear from you guys again! Smell you later!_


	12. Gold and iron

_Warning for a couple of bad words in this chapter.  
_

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Gold and iron**

Blue stood on his elevated platform, his eyes locked on what was by far the most heated battle he ever had to carry out since his debut as a gym leader. His opponent was pushing him and his team so hard a trace of doubt started creeping in the back of his mind and espite his best efforts, it showed. His calm and confident mask was crumbling ever so slightly and his urgency was felt in his every movement.

Needless to say, his adversary wasn't just any random trainer. It was the current champion of the Johto League. Ethan was a short ten year old boy Blue had come across once on Cinnabar Island. Back then, the New Bark native was just an ordinary traveling trainer like so many others and Blue hadn't thought much of him at first. He still had offered the kid a battle when, and only when he got all other seven Kanto badges. The gym leader hadn't really expected to hear from him again after that but there he was now, crowned champion and giving him a run for his money like only one other trainer had ever done before.

Ethan had arrived early in the morning on a sunday. A very large crowd had gathered to witness the epic clash of a champion and an ex-champion turned gym leader with a perfect record. Ethan had plowed through all six of his trainees without even using all of his pokémon and now Blue was growing increasingly nervous as his trusty Pidgeot took a discharge mid flight from Ethan's Ampharos.

"Pidgeot, return!" Blue called, withdrawing the knocked out bird before he could hit the floor.

The whole crowd was holding its breath, on the edge of their seats. Blue was left with just one pokémon while Ethan still had two, including one Blue hadn't seen before. _Perhaps I was the one who was unprepared_ , the strawberry blonde trainer thought with a hind of dread.

The Johto champion was ready for everything he threw at him, it seemed. His team was perfectly balanced. He didn't specialize and had no clear weakness or pattern. While it was true that Blue thrived under pressure, even he had to come to the realization that he would need luck to win this one. The kid's Ampharos was already battered and weakened; Pidgeot had put up a good fight despite his disadvantage, but as long as it was still standing, it was a threat and that was not even mentioning Ethan's sixth, unknown pokémon.

Blue exchanged a glance with Ethan and saw that the boy was seemingly enjoying himself but was still maintaining a serious concentration. He was reminding him of someone...

It was time to give it all he had left.

"Exeggcutor, go!"

The gym leader sent out his only remaining pokémon. The three-headed creature landed heavily on the floor, enthusiastically shaking his crown of leaves. It wasn't the best possible choice but at least the grass type had a resistance to electricity.

The spectators watched, captivated by the intense battle as the two trainers got ready for another round.

"Ampharos, agility!"

"Exeggcutor, hypnosis!"

The weakened electric type had just begun moving rapidly to increase its speed when the psychic move reached it and stopped it mid-move. The yellow pokémon fell helplessly on the ground, giving Blue the opportunity for a quick finish he had been hoping for.

A single psychic attack later and it was over for Ampharos, which Ethan withdrew.

Blue felt a little bit of confidence coming back to him but he was too wise and experienced to take his victory for granted. He had no idea what he was facing off against, now.

"Typhlosion, go!"

 _Shit._ Luck was definetly not on his side. This was quickly turning into his worst case scenario. His slow grass type had to battle against a fast fire special attacker. Exeggcutor wouldn't be able to take much abuse from the volcano pokémon. His only hope lied in his psychic abilities.

And so, the final round began with a roar from Ethan's Typhlosion. The pokémon immediately went for the kill and sent a flamethrower. It could have been over just that quickly; there was no chance for the clumsy coconut pokémon to get out of the way in time, Blue knew, but he had good faith that his old partner could withstand it. Exeggcutor staggered, trying to shake the flames out of his leaves. He dutifully stood his ground, awaiting his master's command.

There weren't a whole lot of options for Blue. He was at a serious disadvantage against a much faster opponent. Preventing it from landing another blow was the only sound option.

"Exeggcutor, hypnosis!"

His victory entirely hinged on whether or not this move was a success, which was far from granted. The crowd gasped as the psychic's eyes began to glow an unsettling shade of purple, sending a soporific psychic wave towards the opponent. The angry Typhlosion readied for another flamethrower.

Blue knew the hypnosis had missed its mark before even his pokémon did. In a split second, his worst fears were concretized and the helpless grass type got itself another flamethrower to the face. The gym leader winced upon hearing the pained groan of his Exeggcutor as it fell on its back, kicking its feet uselessly as the flames burned its vegetal body.

"Come back!" Blue called quickly, bringing his pokémon's suffering to an end by withdrawing it safely in the stasis on his pokéball.

A moment of silence followed after which the crowd erupted into loud cheering. Blue shook his head in disappointment. This wasn't how he wanted things to turn out. Ethan had just inflicted him his first loss as a gym leader and cast a stain on his undefeated reputation as the Iron Oak.

Though it inevitably reminded him of the loss of his champion title, he didn't feel nearly as humiliated and angry this time around. Maybe it was because his whole reputation, pride and self-esteem was not at stake; maybe it was because he didn't have a personal vendetta against Ethan or maybe it was because he wasn't fighting for his grandfather's approval. It stung but it didn't feel like such a personnal failure this time. He had learned his lesson. He wasn't a kid anymore so he was gonna take this loss like a man, he decided.

"This is the real power of Johto, huh?"

Ethan was litterally jumping from joy, basking in the crowd's applause, petting his Typhlosion, allowing it to share his glory. So much like Red... Blue actually felt his ego complain a little bit. _How the hell did I lose to that guy_ , he couldn't help but wonder.

"Tch... All right," he began when the applause had somewhat died down. "I was wrong. You're the real deal. You're a good trainer. You beat me fair and square, so..."

Blue descended from his platform, aware of the hundreds of pairs of eyes looking at him, trying not to let his frustration show, and walked over to Ethan, who was looking up at his taller figure with an oblivious wide smile.

"Here, take the Earth Badge," he said in a neutral tone. "And this TM. It contains the move Trick Room."

The gym leader handed over the small disk as well as his very sought-after badge to the victorious Johto Champion and Ethan raised the small green jewel high above his head, the crowd cheering loudly for him again as he did so.

"All right!" he shouted enthusiastically, punching the air triumphantly. As he did so, the badge slipped from his fingers and the raven haired boy managed to catch it a split second before it hit the floor. "Oops..."

Blue just stared at him, barely hiding his annoyance behind a forced smile. He was never good at faking. Sometimes, life just decided to test how much bullshit he could take in one day.

"Don't you go losing to any wanna-be trainers, now!" he commanded, pointing a scolding finger right at Ethan's nose. "You're the first one to ever take this badge from me. What am I gonna look like if you just go around losing to any fool that comes around?"

"I always win my battles!" Ethan declared boldly, pocketing his prize. "Elite Four, here I come!"

Blue felt his competitive spirit awaken and his innate desire to prove everyone wrong take over.

"I'm going to beat you someday!" he promised. "You just get back in there when you're the Kanto champion and we'll see who emerges victorious then!"

"All right, bring it on!" Ethan responded confidently. Blue had to raise an eyebrow. It wasn't every day that a trainer, especially one younger than he was, responded to his taunting so casually. In that aspect, Ethan was very much the opposite of his long lost rival. Which reminded him...

"By the way..." he switched back to his serious tone. "There's something I wanna talk to you about."

* * *

The two trainers had managed to find a spot behind the gym where the crowd wouldn't bother them so they could talk away from prying ears. His hands in his pockets, Blue faced the younger boy who hadn't quite come down from his adrenaline rush yet.

"I heard that the Johto League champion defeated an unbeatable ghost trainer on Mount Silver. It was you, wasn't it?" Blue inquired, trying not to look too interested.

Ethan's smile disappeared and he grew serious. "Even the people in Kanto know about this?" he wondered out loud. "I don't know if it was a ghost, though. It came out of nowhere. Didn't say a word. Just challenged me to a battle. And it dissapeared right after I won!"

Blue listened to his words intently, growing more and more excited as the tale went on about Ethan's ascension of the mountain and his encounter with the supposedly supernatural being.

"You said he had a charizard, a pikachu and a lapras, right?" he pressed on. "What else did he have?"

"A snorlax... an espeon too, I think..."

"What did he look like?" the gym leader persisted. Ethan seemed to finally notice how tenacious Blue was and his puzzlement started to show.

"Why do you wanna know that?"

Blue resisted the urge to roll his eyes impatiently. "Just answer the damn question."

Ethan gulped uneasily at the weirdly intimidating older trainer. "W-well, he had long dark hair... I didn't see his face very well. He looked a little older than me. He wore a short sleeve jacked and a red cap-"

Ethan interrupted himself when he saw the other trainer abruptly turn around, throwing his hands up in the air, puzzled by the curious reaction.

"I can't believe it!" Blue laughed. "You actually beat Red! I knew you were good but that good!?"

The raven-haired boy just stared at him like he'd grown a second head, utterly confused. "Wait, who's Red? You mean the ghost? You know him?"

Blue had the biggest grin on his face, completely ignoring his question.

"You beat Red... That's great! Let's take a picture!"

Before Ethan had a chance to protest, Blue pulled out his newly acquired phone and snapped a picture of the both of them, not caring about the incredulous expression on Ethan's face which would forever be preserved in the photo.

Blue felt guiddy like a child in a toy store. He had started to suspect that the so-called ghost on Mount Silver was Red a while ago but now that it was confirmed to him, he was positively extatic. He hadn't anticipated reacting so strongly to the knowledge of Red losing a battle but a deeply rooted grudge mixed with an almost sadistic desire to see his old rival crushed gave him a rush of excitement and satisfaction upon hearing the news. Oh, he just wished he could have snapped a picture of Red's face when his last pokémon collapsed to the ground! _Now you know what that feels like, Papenbrook..._ Maybe there was some semblance of justice after all... _I just wish I could have been the one to destroy you, like you did for me..._

Suddenly, losing to Ethan didn't seem like such a big deal. Losing to someone who could beat Red at the pinnacle of his power... There was no shame in that, though Blue fully intended to beat the both of them one of these days. He couldn't help it. He was competitive by nature.

"Wait a second!" Ethan interjected. "Red... Isn't that the former champion of the Indigo League? The one who went missing? _He_ 's the guy I saw on Mount Silver?"

"There's not a trace of doubt in my mind," Blue confirmed.

"You know him?"

Blue calmed down slightly and grew serious.

"I was the champion of the Indigo League before he was..." he told, recalling the fateful day on which his whole world was shattered like it was yesterday. "But he brought me down not two hours after my crowning. After that, he ran away like a coward and nobody knew where he was."

Ethan remained silent, sensing that there was a whole history behind the gym leader's words. He wasn't sure what to think about that. Blue was visibly angry when he told the short story of the loss of his title. Did he just unintentionnally send a revenge-thirsty world renowned trainer after his unsuspecting prey? Maybe he should have heeded his mom's warning and learned to keep his big mouth shut.

"Well, mister Johto League champion, congratulations on your very impressive victory. Now you put that TM to good use. And don't lose that badge! You won't be getting a second one from me. Ever!"

Ethan smiled at the challenge.

* * *

Sometimes, on a clear day, it was possible, from the roof of the Viridian City gym, to see the frozen peak of Mount Silver very far away in the distance, always partially hidden by the atmospheric blue veil of the horizon. A day like today, the gym leader understood when he stepped on the sun baked roof of his building. His sharp hazel eyes went to the invisible summit of the giant rock titan.

 _So, this is where you've been all this time..._ A small gust of wind ran over the gym and played with his thick orange hair. _You didn't think you could run away forever, now, did you?_


	13. The fallen champion

_Hello again my esteemed readers. First, I want to take a moment to give my sincerest thanks to TheSilverHunt3r, my most faithful reviewer to date. You have reviewed almost every chapter! I am so glad you stuck with me for so long and I can only hope that my story is up to your standards. Thank you and I hope to hear from you again!_

 _And Eevee, glad to have you back! Thank you for your review of chapter 10. I'm sorry if the latter part of the chapter offended you or upset you. I didn't think that it could be viewed as disturbing or offensive to some people because, as mentioned at the end of that chapter, I work in an actual psychiatric ward so I'm kind of desensitized to that sort of things. But I will heed your advice and give a warning before each chapter whenever there is sensitive material ahead. Be aware, though, that this will not be the last chapter with this kind of stuff. Just a heads up._

 _You know, this is the first time I put this much time and effort in a fanfic, especially one not even in my native language. Because of that, it's really important to me to know that people are reading and enjoying. I have high hopes for this story. Boy, would I love to see it get to over a hundred reviews. Maybe it's too much to ask or maybe this story just isn't good enough for that. You guys can be the judges of that. But be assured that, member or guest, your opinion matters to me, even if it's not a favorable one. I wanna hear from you guys. I wanna know what you think. I want to hear about your ideas and suggestions, if you have any. Above all, I wanna know what you think I did right, so that I can focus on doing it right again._

 _Warning: this chapter contains material that might be viewed as disturbing by some people._

* * *

 **Chapter 13: The fallen champion**

The big Arcanine's intense body heat proved to be a boon to its trainer as it helped greatly to clear the thick snow from his path. Despite this, however, Blue's ascension was tedious, to say the least, and he was grateful for the help of his devoted team. Half the trip was spent on Arcanine's back but whenever he felt his legendary pokémon tire, he would hop off and travel besides it on foot for a while until night came. Blue would set up camp, feed his pokémon and sleep in relative comfort by using Arcanine as a giant fluffy pillow, the dog's cream colored mane keeping him warm. Blue made sure to keep his Alakazam close as a lookout while he slept, his powerful psychic's mind able to perceive any incoming threat long before it became visible.

Blue had heard from many Johto trainers that the ascension of Mount Silver could take between three and five days, depending on the weather and the climber's determination. The gym leader was already well into his third day but he had been subjected to an endless snowstorm since reaching the eternal snow of the top. He was fairly certain that, without his pokémon, he would have been buried alive under the snow the wind was continuously throwing at him. What was Red thinking, living in this frozen hell for three years?

Still, Blue was nothing if not stubborn and he kept on going despite the cold, the exhaustion and the danger, because he and Red had an appointment with destiny.

The gym leader had kept himself busy since he left his hometown to live on his own. So busy in fact, that he had stopped thinking about his lost rival completely. As he busied his mind with other things, the injury to his pride had somewhat healed and he was able to move on. At least, that's what he thought but it all changed upon hearing of Red's defeat at the hands of the unexpectedly resourceful Johto League champion. Why did he get so excited to learn about Red's loss?

He had quickly realized that the wound wasn't quite healed yet. He still wanted to prove that he could beat his childhood neighboor. Even if no one else was there to see it; even if there was no one to approve of him. He had to know. He had to prove it to himself. He knew he had it in him. He knew he was strong enough. His pokémon trusted him and he trusted them. He was not the same trainer he had been, sitting on the Indigo throne. That had to count for something, right?

* * *

Blue reached the peak of the moutain in the middle of the next day. The wind was howling, swirling in chaotic spirals, beating him so hard he was nearly knocked off his feet a couple times. It was as if the mountain itself was trying to keep him away from his target but he had no intention of leaving before he had done what he had come to do. Bent over to minimize his presence against the wind, his arms hugging himself to keep warm, his boots sinking in the snow up to his knees, Blue had to resort to using his Alakazam to see for him; to scan the surrounding area for any sign of life. It took a while but eventually, both of Alakazam's spoons bent in a specific direction. Blue followed his pokémon's guidance without question.

And then he saw it. Standing on an elevated crest of rock, overlooking his visitor in a way not unlike Blue did when he welcomed a challenger in his gym. The ominous silhouette of a young boy, dressed in the color of blood, his overgrown hair beating furiously across his shoulders because of the raging winds, his red cap obscuring his face. Blue instantly knew who it was and his hand automatically went for his pokéball belt.

He could feel Red's eyes bore into his skull even through his cap but the gym leader got a strange gut feeling upon seeing his familiar form. There was something _off_ about him but he didn't have the time to ponder what it was. His trained eye spotted an abnormal movement from behind the lost champion. Two enormous orange and green wings spread behind him as if bursting from the ground and Blue barely had the time to register the fact that a very angry and very determined Charizard, with flames overflowing from the corners of its mouth like the foam from a rabid animal, was dive bombing straight for him. Blue quickly launched a pokéball foward, his trusty Blastoise bursting out with a loud thud, countering the deadly flamethrower with a well aimed hydro-pump. The high-level pressurized water jet hit Red's starter right in the mouth and the Charizard was thrown back in the direction it came from, sliding up to his owner's feet, unmoving.

Blue actually had to take a deep breath to begin to process what just happened. He was momentarily completely stunned, unable to believe just how close he had come to burn to death. Red had actually tried to kill him. He had sent his strongest pokémon after him before he even had released one of his own. This flamethrower had been intended for _him_ ; not his pokémon. Why the hell was Red trying to kill him?

Again, Blue didn't have much time to think about it because his abnormal rival threw another pokéball at him in an uncharacteristically urgent and clumsy way. Out came his deceptively strong Pikachu, no doubt in an attempt to counter his Blastoise. Shaken out of his vengeful thoughts by a primal self-preservation instinct, Blue threw the rules out the window and sent a second pokémon into action, his Machamp. Seemingly very determined to eliminate him, Red imitated him and sent out his Espeon to counter the fighting-type.

Blue was operating on pure adrenaline, all too aware of how his actual life was at stake, in the pressure that brought out the best of his fighting ability. Despite a disadvantage in type, both Pikachu and Espeon fell to Blastoise's skull bash and Machamp's cross chop. _What the hell is wrong with him!? Is he insane!?_

The rest of Red's team fell to Blue's, the latter's team claiming victory having suffered almost no injury. Now that the assault was over, Blue had the opportunity to observe his former neighboor.

Red had this weird, slanted posture like he was a broken toy and he kept shaking, perhaps from the cold, perhaps from something else.

" **What are you doing!?** " Blue shouted angrily, surrounded by all six of his pokémon. " **What is wrong with you!?** "

He didn't know what he was expecting but it certainly wasn't to see Red raise his hands protectively in front of him, like he was trying to keep some unseen attacker at bay and backing away step by step. Blue was standing a good ten meters away from him, keeping a safe distance. Red was acting like he was the one who had attempted to murder him; he looked terrified of him, which was very unusual for his normally brave self. The whole thing felt so surreal, Blue had to wonder if he wasn't dreaming.

This wasn't Red. This was some crazy imposter.

" **What the hell happened to you?** " the gym leader yelled on top of his lungs, angry beyond measure.

Blue took a step foward, fully intending to whack some sense into him but as soon as he did so, Red tripped as he was backing off and fell clumsily in the snow, still shielding himself with his raised arms.

Blue's anger was somewhat replaced by confusion. It was starting to look less and less likely that Red was just messing with him. He truly seemed desperate to keep him away. He was scared of him like he was the grim reaper. Never had the red-capped trainer been afraid of his rival before. There had to be something terribly wrong with him.

What kind of battle was that, anyway? Blue had litterally obliterated each one of his pokémon with relative ease. Red's commands were delayed, clumsy. He made a whole bunch of novice mistakes. There was no rhyme or reason to his moves. There was no strategy or logic. Blue had come up here fairly confident in his ability to beat him but that had been way too easy. Suspiciously easy.

"Wait… Where are you going?"

Red got up laboriously and ran away in the opposite direction. Blue withdrew his pokémon quickly and gave chase, knowing he couldn't let the fallen champion get too far since he could easily lose him in the snowstorm. The gym leader had no legitimate idea of what he was going to do, but he couldn't just walk away from that.

He followed into Red's footprints before the wind blew them away. He eventually found himself going down a treacherous slope. The gym leader carefully made his way down to a shaded isolated ridge at the edge of which the dark opening of a cave could be seen. That had to be where Red went.

Blue double checked for the switchblade he always kept in his boot whenever he went on an expedition like this. Becoming a traveling trainer came with many perils and Samuel Oak had gifted him with the small sharp blade before his departure on his pokémon adventure just in case he ever found himself in a dangerous situation without his pokémon to protect him. Blue luckily never had to use it for self-defense purposes but since he had no idea what to expect going to that cave with a clearly unstable Red, he prefered to reassure himself with the knowledge that he had it in reach.

Despite his nervousness, Blue stepped into the pitch black cave. Inside, he finally got a break from the raging winds so he finally could straighten up and shake all the snowflakes off of him. However, the contrast from the pure white-out outside and the opressive darkness of the cave he was in made him almost completely blind. Momentarily relying on his hearing to warn him of any threats, Blue allowed his eyes a moment to get adjusted to the almost non-existent lighting.

The gym leader carefully moved foward deeper into the cave, keeping a hand on the wall and probing with his foot like a blind man to make sure he didn't walk into some crevice. He sure could have used a pokémon who knew flash right now but he hadn't really expected to do speleology today.

It didn't take that long for the entrance to disappear out of sight and it made Blue feel a little claustrophobic and disoriented.

Eventually, he heard something. It sounded like… panting. A faint orange light appeared in his peripheral vision. Blue drew near and he recognized it as Red's Charizard's tail flame. The fire dragon was still fainted, collapsed on the ground. The strawberry blonde trainer narrowed his eyes when he didn't see its trainer next to him. There was still that faint panting sound. It came from somewhere on his left.

Blue finally spotted Red, who was seemingly hiding in a small alcove in the wall, scrunched up in fetal position. Blue just stared blankly at him, unsure of what to make of this.

"Red, what the _hell_ was that all about?" the gym leader interrogated, not hiding his anger.

"Don't… Don't come here. Don't come any closer…" Red was curling tightly into a ball like a sandshrew, his overgrown brown locks draping over his shoulders like a blanket.

Blue couldn't help but snort at the pathetic sight. Was this really what had become of his rival? A cowering loser with some of the worst battling abilities he had ever seen? Blue couldn't bring himself to feel bad for him. Empathy was never his cup of tea.

"Why don't you stop running like a coward and face me like a man?" Blue taunted, hoping to get a semblance of a normal reaction out of his rival.

"Stay away…" came Red's terrified voice again. "Don't hurt me again with that knife. Just go away. You're not here. You're not real. Go away!"

Blue was astonished when he heard the delirious speech. He was asking him not to hurt him 'again'… with a knife? Red couldn't possibly know he had a knife on his person and even if he did, it's not like he ever tried to use it on him before. He had heard it well : Red thought he was not really there; that he was not real. _Is he… hallucinating?_

The whole thing was getting crazier by the minute. Why and how did Red go from a crazy rabid blood-thristy maniac to a cowering little ball hiding away in a corner in the span of a few minutes?

 _He's been up here for three years; alone. That had to have affected his sanity, right?_ Blue sighed, struggling to chose the right course of action. He ran a hand through his hair.

"All right, listen… I'm not coming any closer. But don't you think it's time you come down from this mountain? I mean, really? Three years? You gave up being a champion for _this_?"

Blue was trying to be comforting but even he was aware that he was failing terribly at it. He was never good at that sort of thing, especially for someone he didn't really like who did something very stupid. The gym leader huffed in annoyance, running his hand over his face. Red remained balled up in his corner, refusing to move, to answer or even to look at him. The moron was really testing how patient he could be.

Blue took a few steps away from the crevice Red was hiding in to let off some steam and think about what he was going to do. His feet took him towards the exit of the cave. His first impulse was to just leave and abandon him but before he could step out of the charizard's firelight completely, he stopped. He didn't really know why.

He had come up this moutain to kick Red's ass but now he didn't know what to do about him anymore. He was completely out of it and even he had to conclude that he couldn't just leave him there. How could he possibly face Margaret Papenbrook knowing he had found her missing son in a horrible state and didn't do anything about it? When she had given him these letters and he had accepted them, he had unintentionally got caught in a moral obligation to do whatever he could to help.

Blue risked a glance over his shoulder, seeing the collapsed Charizard, completely neglected by his master. Being so insensitive to his pokémon's suffering went against everything Red was and represented. He, who had gotten famous because of his heroic, selfless way of being. Helping others without asking for anything in return, sometimes at the risk of his own life. Blue still remembered how badly he had been scolded by his grandfather for not being more like Red and a part of him still resented the both of them for it. Red, the guy everyone admired and loved, reduced to a self-destructive psycho… Fate worked in strange ways sometimes.

Blue sighed again and turned back to head towards Red, still keeping a safe distance, though. He crouched down and turned to the side in an attempt to look less threatening.

"Look…" he began in a quiet gentle voice he used so rarely it sounded alien to his own ears. "You can't stay here anymore. You're not well. This place… It's no place for a human being to be."

Red still gave no reply and just kept on shivering.

"Come on, Papenbrook… I know you're not the sharpest tool in the shed but even you have got to realize how unhealthy this is."

He had confirmation that his old rival was listening when he saw his shaking calm down ever so slightly. Encouraged by the progress. Blue kept on going :

"Think about your pokémon... How are you supposed to heal them up here? Don't you care about them at all? And you… Look at yourself. You look like a hobo. You look like you're dying from some horrible disease. You probably are. You know it's okay to think about your own well being once in a while, right?"

Blue was afraid his speech had gotten a little too rough at the end but Red stopped shaking and actually looked up at him. His eyes were wide and tormented.

"You don't understand," he said with a shaky unsure tone. "If I leave, you're gonna kill me! And then I'm gonna kill you! I'm a good person..."

Blue had to make an effort to keep a straight face upon hearing the complete nonsense Red had just uttered. However, instead of pointing it out, he opted to simply reassure him.

"Nobody's gonna kill anyone," he assured him. "I just-" Blue interrupted himself to try and make it sound convincing : "I just want to help you."

Blue resolutely got up, dusting his pants off.

"Come on, now. Let's get your pokémon and get out of here."

Red seemed to consider it. He looked like he was wondering if his old rival could be trusted. Blue anxiously waited for his reaction and when he saw his former neighboor slowly get up, he allowed himself to smile a little.

* * *

 _Eevee, to answer your question about how I manage to get into Blue's head and where I get my inspiration to write his teenage angst...Well, there are two reasons. The first is, I'm pretty good at reading people's emotions so I understand very well how emotions work and it's easy for me to get a good picture of what Blue's personnality is like with the limited dialogue he has in the games._

 _I got worried I made him a little too angry at points since he isn't shown in the game to be particularly short tempered but I really concentrated his angry tendancies on things that are about his family, which we can see canonically in action in Pokémon Generations where he immediately snaps at Agatha for comparing him to Prof. Oak (which is also the strongest hint that gameverse Blue doesn't have a good relashionship with his grandpa) I pay close attention to all of these small details so writing about Blue really comes to as naturally as if he was my own creation. The second reason is that I share some personnality traits with Blue. I used to be an angry teenager myself and I remember quite well what it feels like._

 _There are nowhere near enough Blue-centric fanfics out there so I allowed myself to write one who gave him a lot of time in the spotlight. Most fanfictions I've read about Blue (gameverse) portray him as an over the top a-hole or as a cruel bully who just likes to hurt others for fun. They make it so that Blue's arrogance and self-confidence is a facade that he puts up so nobody finds out how insecure he is. That's not how I see him, personnally. Blue is not the "typical bully" type. I don't think his confidence and arrogance is a facade but that it's really how he is. He really is that proud and full of himself. In a world where most people lack self confidence, people who have it naturally are often the targets of a lot of criticizing. Blue has that very strong personnality that most people have a hard time dealing with. But he has been acting like a bully to Red and other kids since childhood because making others feel miserable is the only way he knew to deal with the pain of the loss of his parents. It's a very typical defense mechanism, especially with kids. But as the story progresses, he's growing out of that._


	14. Someone in the dark

_Hey, guys! The last chapter got a bunch of reviews. I'm glad! Thank you to TheSilverHunt3r, HeyYouYaYou and Eevee. And welcome to a new reader, Umbruhon!_

 _From what I can gather, you guys seem to like my portrayal of Blue and I'm glad you do because good characterization is something many fanfictions lack, especially for this particular character._

 _And I don't mean to brag but I do think this story is good. You guys like it very much, so it has to be, right? I know reviews don't mean everything, but at least it's feedback, unlike simple views, so they're important to me. I want this story to be big; for a lot of people to read it and feel it. And I have this very meaningful ending in plan and I just HAVE to know how people will feel about it. This is by far my most ambicious writing project to date._

 _Warning: violence and potentially disturbing content! (Seriously, if you think this should be rated M, let me know!)_

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Someone in the dark**

It was a long and awkward trek down Mount Silver. Blue had to keep a constant eye on Red to make sure he didn't stray or turn around. The fallen champion had remained completely mute for the entire trip which, granted, was nothing unusual for him. It was the closest to his normal self Blue had seen so far, actually, so he took it as a good sign. Still, the gym leader had confiscated his pokéballs just in case he freaked out again.

When they finally reached the base of the mountain, though, Red started to get more agitated. He began fidgeting; tugging at his sleeves, pulling at his hair, looking around himself nervously as if he was expecting something to jump at him. He still didn't say anything but he looked as nervous as a ratatta on an open field. The further they got from the mountain, the more twitchy he got. It was almost like living on the frozen peak was an addiction and that now he was in withdrawal. Blue wondered if he should be worried.

So far, they had been walking through the large forest that separated Johto from Kanto. They encountered several wild pokémon, which Blue kept at bay with his own but when they came across an actual person, Red went and hid somewhere and the blonde trainer had to use his Alakazam's telepathy to find him.

Because of that, Blue had opted to avoid populated areas as much as possible, staying away from the main roads. It was simple. Just heading in the direction of the rising sun and they would reach the Indigo Plateau and then Viridian City, which was a day and a half trip. On the night they had to spend in the wilderness, Blue had Alakazam hypnotise Red to get him to fall asleep so he could get some real rest and also so that he himself could sleep without having to worry about either of their safety.

Blue had made it so that they would reach the Evergreen City late at night so as to minimize the chances to encounter people on their way to the gym. When the familiar building came into view, its owner turned to his still following companion, who stood a few paces behind him, hugging himself weakly like he was cold. His head was hung low; his stance was slanted and asymetric. He seemed to be shivering but other than that, he was eerily still. He looked like a kicked growlithe. A filthy, lanky, stupid growlithe with overgrown hair. Blue huffed in annoyance, refusing to feel bad for the fallen champion. He firmly, though not violently, grabbed Red's forearm and dragged him towards the gym's main entrance. Quickly unlocking the door, he took an immediate right and headed up the flight of stairs, Red following him like a zombie.

The two teenagers finally made it to Blue's quarters, situated right above the battle arena. Blue saw the other trainer take an excessively slow confused look around him. Clearly, he was wondering what they were doing on the upper floor of the Viridian City gym. That was to be expected, Blue thought. The poor bastard had no idea what's been happening in Kanto for the past three years and that included him becoming the new gym leader after the last one had abandonned ship.

Despite his new position, Blue hadn't lost his nature as a traveling trainer and as such, he was rarely ever home. His apartment was mostly bare, except for the essentials. There were no pictures or decorations, save for the giant Earth Badge replica that hung on the wall above the scarcely used TV. Blue dropped his bag at the door and stepped in, expecting Red to do the same, except he didn't and went back to looking at his feet. The blonde teenager rolled his eyes in uncensored annoyance.

He really was out of it, Blue thought. Being so silent was nothing new for Red but his childhood rival had never ever been this pathetically lethargic. The once strong and confident champion of Kanto was reduced to a hollow, mentally crushed shell of his former self. Everywhere he looked, his gaze was dull and lifeless. He didn't react to anything; sight, touch or sound the way a normal person would. He seemed lost in his own world. He had lost contact with reality. Now, Blue was no psychiatrist but he figured there was not much else to do but to wait it out. At least now he was out of the toxic environment he had rotten his mind away in for three years.

The two boys stood in front of one another for a while until Blue got sick of it. "You're going to take a shower," he ordered, not hiding his disgust in the slightest. "I'm not having you sleep on my couch while you stink like a muk."

Red looked over to him, head slightly cocked to the side, before looking down at his filthy, worn attire. That was the Blue Oak way of offering him his hospitality. Being nice still wasn't his strong suit, apparently.

* * *

Red warily closed the bathroom door behind him. He scratched his arm nervously. It had been such a long time since he'd step foot in an actual bathroom. The sheer convenience of it almost felt alien to him. The teenager stayed in place for a good minute. His mind was blank, unable to focus on anything for a moment. It happened a lot these days. Sometimes, he would 'wake up' realizing he had no idea what he'd done for the last few hours. It was like he was stuck in limbo; somewhere between conscious and unconscious, between awake and asleep... between alive and dead.

A shower. Red suddenly reminded himself of what he was in the ceramic room for in the first place. The teenager hesitantly removed his beloved blood-red cap, exposing his overgrown and filthy brown locks. After three years of neglect, his greasy long hair reached the center of his back. Had he not been in a cold, dry environment with little else than snow, ice, and rock around, they would probably be hideously filthy and filled with debris and bugs.

Afterwards, Red took off his worn shoes which were badly in need of a replacement. At last, the lost champion shed all of his clothes, not paying attention to them as they piled up at his feet. There, as naked as when he was born, Red directed his eyes to the mirror involuntarely; something he had been trying to avoid doing since he'd realised he had lost his mind.

Staring back at him with abscent, bloodshot eyes, his reflection revealed all the unappealing signs of his unstable mental state. His own image was no longer familiar to him. The small ten year old who had left the Indigo Plateau after getting sick of all the attention and unwanted fame, was replaced by a taller but frailer version. Underneath all the dirt and grime, his bare ghostly white skin revealed a quickly maturing body. His proportions were awkwardly off. His legs were longer and shaped; so were his arms. His shoulders were broader and more defined. His whole body was undergoing a transformation, like a slowly evolving pokémon, he could tell. His jaw was squared, his chin more angular and his brow more accentuated. Red thought distractedly that he was hairier than he remembered. The teenager scratched his chin thoughtfully. So this is what it was, to 'become a man'? He vaguely remembered some people telling him about it. Apart from its changing shape, Red noticed that his body was thin, to an extent that was probably unhealthy. Food was scarce on Mount Silver and Red didn't have the luxury to eat regular, balanced meals. He used to be an active trainer, running or pedaling his way all over Kanto, fueling his childishly high metabolism with hearthy doses of exercise. However, after such a long time of being mostly inactive and malnourished, he hadn't built up the increased muscle mass the wave of puberty hormones should have brought him. What a shame, he thought abscentmindedly.

Red finished the examination of his own body and turned towards the shower. He took a moment to get reacquainted with the way the implement functionned. Stepping under the icy cold stream of water, Red felt more at home than perhaps he should have. He stood there, eyes open, while the cascading water slowly soaked his mess of a hairdo and washed away the filth off of his body. At his feet, the water that was swallowed by the drain was brownish.

Soon, the water started to warm up until it steamed and Red was immediately torn between satisfaction and discomfort. He fundled with the temperature a bit until he found one he was comfortable in and then proceeded to rub himself clean of the grime. The soap made short work of the dirt on his skin but his unkempt hair was knotted beyond hope. Nevertheless, he cleaned it as best as he could, emptying the previously almost full bottle of shampoo in the process. He stayed in the shower for a long time, not thinking about anything, until the water that dripped off of him was perfectly clean.

* * *

Blue had just begun to fall asleep after spending hours deep in thought when he was jolted awake by the sound of footsteps.

"Damnit…" the gym leader muttered under his breath, sitting down in his bed.

That was exactly what he had been afraid of. That his 'guest' would get up and become agitated again in the middle of the night. He had been hoping Red would calm down and stabilize, away from the mountain and away from strangers; get a good night of sleep but it didn't look like it was gonna turn out that way.

Blue calmly but quickly got out of his bed, simply dressed in a black tank top and comfy grey sweatpants (his go-to sleeping attire) and exited his room in the darkness of the night, intending to check on his burden.

He quickly spotted Red just as he was about to open the door to leave the apartment.

"Where do you think you're going?" Blue interrupted him.

Red's response was very delayed but he eventually answered without turning around to look at him. "Home," he said in a lifeless monotone voice.

That was Blue's first warning sign that the fallen champion may not be in a normal state at the moment.

"It's four in the goddamn morning. You're not going anywhere," Blue replied, remembering to keep his voice down to hopefully get better results.

Red completely ignored him and turned the doorknob to let himself out. Blue rushed foward to slam the door shut, unwilling to let the highly unstable trainer loose in the city.

"You can't leave like that, Red! You're not well," Blue protested, standing between the brunette and the exit. "Come on, just go back to sleep. You need it and so do I."

It happened so fast, Blue never had a chance to react. With a speed on par with an arbok's bite, Red grabbed him by the neck with both hands. The gym leader reflexively grabbed the fallen champion's wrists, trying to tear them away from his throat. Red did not give him the time to think about a way to free himself. He brutally pulled him away from the door like he was a ragdoll and spun him around with a terrifying strenght. Both boys went tumbling to the floor, Red trapping his stunned victim underneath his body.

Now with the unstable teenager's entire upper body weight resting on his agonizingly constricted throat, Blue's eyes started to water while Red's fingers mercilessly squeezed the life out of him with a strenght far surpassing what an underfed teenage boy should have. The gym leader's legs kicked uselessly beneath his attacker, unable to throw him off, fear completely disabling his brain. His trachea feeling like it was filled with shattered glass and his lungs burning like fire, Blue desperately tried to punch Red in the face, chest, sides, anywhere he could reach to get him to let go but the decompensating boy took all the blows with little to no reaction, as if he couldn't process pain. Blue started to panick and his watery eyes found Red's lifeless ones staring back at him with cold determination.

This couldn't be happening! This wasn't how he was meant to go! Strangled to death by his former rival, completely helpless on the floor, unable to think. Blue saw his field of vision getting smaller and smaller, Red's emotionless face getting blurrier and blurrier and his punches getting weaked and weaker. Fruitlessly trying to suck in one last breath of air, all Blue could do was mouth through clenched teeth: ' _Wake up, Red! Please, wake up!'_ There was no response; no one to help him.

His arms fell limply to his sides, every muscle in his body giving up their struggle. Blue felt himself fall into a dark abyss.

Suddenly, the crushing pressure on his neck was released and, as if someone had suddenly pulled him out of water he was drowning in, his body jolted like from an electric shock and his consciousness abruptly came back. His eyes shot open. He took the longest, loudest breath in of his life and it was as painful as it was relieving. Dizzy and confused, Blue just lied on the floor, his entire body wracked by a frantic coughing fit which only put more strain on his oxygen deprived lungs. He tasted blood on his tongue.

It took a good five minutes of struggling with the urge to breathe in and the reflex to cough while lying on the floor before Blue became well enough to sit up, rubbing his painful throat, his forehead drenched in cold sweat. He slowly got his ability to think clearly and to process what had just happened back.

Red was unconscious, collapsed on the floor right next to him. _What in…?_

The gym leader spotted his miraculous savior standing a few feet behind him : his Alakazam. The pieces of the puzzle slowly fell into place in Blue's mind.

Psychic types had unique abilities and one of them was to read minds. As Blue's bond with his Alakazam got stronger and stronger, they began to share a special mental connection. The amazingly smart psychic could read his trainer's thoughts so well that he could give him his commands without the need to speak. Alakazam could hear his master's thoughts even from his pokéball. And that was exactly what happened. The psi pokémon had sensed his master's distress and had let himself out of his pokéball to fly to his aid. He had put Red to sleep just in time.

As his coughing somewhat calmed down, Blue began to realize he was shaking, either from his coming down from his adrenaline rush or because he had never been quite this scared for his life, ever. Maybe both. He had come so close to dying this time and it terrified him on a level he could hardly explain. It was the second time in just two days Red had tried to kill him.

Blue hadn't even had the time to be scared when Red had sent his Charizard after him. It had happened too fast for him to even think about being scared and Blue's pokémon had quickly taken control of the situation before he got hurt.

This time, however, the gym leader had all the time in the world to realize what was happening _while_ it was happening and he had actually felt his life slipping away. He couldn't remember being so scared in his whole life.

While he was concentrating on his erratic breathing, Blue looked over at Red's sleeping form and then at his faithful pokémon who had just saved his life. Blue gave it his most heartfelt thanks and then looked over at Red again.

' _Don't hold it against him,_ ' he heard Alakazam tell him telepathically. ' _He didn't know what he was doing._ ' Blue knew that his pokémon's words could be trusted. The powerful psychic could peer into people's minds and he probably saw just how chaotic Red's psyche was.

The gym leader surprised himself with how not angry he was. Had he not witnessed firsthand just how unwell his old rival was, he might just have gotten so mad he would have beaten him to a pulp out of spite. But now, despite how bad the situation was, he couldn't find it in him to feel angry. Maybe it was just the lack of oxygen but he simply felt tired and nauseated. One thing was for sure now, though. Red's condition was not something he could handle by himself; what just happened was proof of that. He had to get help.

' _You can't do anything about this, can you?_ ' he mentally asked his pokémon.

' _I cannot fix a broken mind,_ ' came the somewhat expected answer.

Blue cleared his aching throat and nodded. Boy, he was exhausted.

' _Can you get him to sleep until tomorrow morning?_ ' Alakazam answered with the affirmative. ' _When he wakes up, will he be… normal? As in; not a murderous savage?_ '

' _He should be. But I will stand guard, just in case._ '

' _Good,_ ' the gym leader sighed. ' _I need…_ ' he stopped for a second to fight off a wave of nausea. ' _I need some rest._ '

Blue carefully got up; first getting on all four before attempting to stand as slowly as he needed, before grabbing Red's sleeping body by the arms and dragging it back to the couch, not bothering to make him comfortable. He coughed again, tasting the metal once more and headed back in the direction of his room. He was stopped by the inquiring 'voice' of his psychic.

' _Master, are you sure you are well enough?_ '

' _I'll be fine,_ ' he answered with his thoughts. ' _Just make sure he doesn't wake up before I do._ '

Blue shut the bathroom door behind him and locked it just to be safe. The shaken teenager sighed, putting both hands on the counter. He then looked up at his reflection in the mirror. What he saw was quite a shock even though it shouldn't have been, given what he had just been through.

His neck was swollen. An enormous angry red bruise had made its appearance on it. His veins jutted out unnaturally and his eyes were bloodshot and gleaming.

In short, he looked terrible but that was to be expected. Blue filled the glass sitting next to the sink with cold water and downed it quickly, hoping to relieve some of the pain. His heart was still beating fast.

Blue looked at the mirror again, his reflection staring back at him with half-hearted determination.

Something had to be done.


	15. Friend or foe

_Important warning for this one. It contains a pretty detailed depiction of a psychotic episode. It might be hard to read for some people, especially if you have a past of mental illness but this story arc is almost over and a new one will begin soon._

 _Again, if you think this should be rated M, let me know._

* * *

 **Chapter 15: Friend or foe**

Blue hadn't expected to get up so late but his _little_ ordeal had drained more of his energy than he thought it would. It was way past noon when he opened his eyes. He groggily sat up in his bed, scratching his scalp, trying to work up the courage to get out of bed and start what was sure to be a difficult day. His Alakazam had at least kept him safe so he could rest.

The gym leader threw himself out of bed and went to the bathroom for his morning rountine. When he caught sight of his reflexion in the mirror, he saw that his appearance had somewhat gone back to normal, except for the still clearly visible red bruise on this throat. It still hurt. For that reason, Blue opted to wear a black squirtleneck to conceal the injury. He was the type to show off scars, but not wounds.

Once he was all dressed and ready, he went to the living room where, sure enough, Red was still sleeping on the couch under the watchful eye of Alakazam. Blue ordered the latter to let Red wake up naturally, returning the psychic to his pokéball, knowing he could lend his help again in an emergency, should the need arise. The strawberry blonde teenager went and sat in the kitchen, keeping the fallen champion well in his line of sight while he made himself some breakfast. He had made sure to have his switchblade in reach again... just in case.

Blue was on his guard when he saw Red stir and then sit up. He had no idea if he was in the presence of normal Red or psychotic Red, so he got ready for a possible assault.

For the moment being, though, the brunette was just looking around. The gym leader waited patiently for him to get reacquainted with his surroundings and notice him.

Red ended up turning around to look at him. He looked nervous but not scared. It looked like he was back to his (relatively) normal self. Blue allowed himself to relax a little.

"How are you feeling?" he asked more out of suspicion than out of concern. As usual, Red's response was very delayed.

"Why do you sound like that?"

Blue hadn't thought about that. His voice was hoarse and scratchy because of the pressure that was put on his vocal chords the night before. Blue had to make a decision on the fly: confront him about the incident or pretend it didn't happen?

"You mean, you don't remember what happened last night?" Blue didn't know whether to feel relieved or worried.

Red seemed to search his memory for a moment. "I remember getting here... and taking a shower," he finally said. "And then I went to sleep. Why? Did something happen?"

Blue decided not to unecessarily freak him out more and to keep the incident a secret. For now.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with. Look-"

"Why do you sound like that?" Red asked again suspiciously.

"I got a cold, okay!?" the gym leader snapped more harshly than he intended. He was really hoping Red would buy his lie and drop it, despite how lame it was because he was a terrible liar and wouldn't be able to come up with anything better, he knew.

Red recoiled slightly at his elevated tone and Blue almost felt bad. He quickly changed the subject. "Look, Red. You need to see a doctor. You're not well." Red just stared at him without any reaction. Blue went on to make himself more convincing. "I know we're not exactly friends or anything but you just gotta take my word for it. You're ill. You're not normal and I don't think you realize just how sick you are. Disliking attention is one thing but going into hiding on a mountain for three years just for that; it's not right. It's not something a _normal_ person would do."

Red lowered his head like he was ashamed.

"I brought you here to help you," Blue told him, hoping he sounded sincere. "But I realized I can't help you with that. You need a doctor."

The fallen champion started pulling at his overgrown hair nervously. "I can't be with people. I'm a good person. I don't want to hurt anyone..." He sounded genuinely distressed. Blue was just confused.

"Why would you hurt anyone if you don't want to?" He wasn't even trying to challenge Red's logic. He was actually asking himself the same question; wondering _why_ the events that took place last night had taken place, and truly wanted to know what he would say.

The more the conversation progressed, the more uncomfortable Red became. He was scrunching up in a ball progressively, like he did in his cave. The gym leader got the intuition that he was forcing his childhood rival in a place he was not confortable in. Despite the possible danger that this implied, he felt it necessary.

"Come on, Red," he tried to sound comforting, despite a tiny bit of impatience and the scratchy sound of his voice. "You can't spend the rest of your life hiding away like that. I'll take you to the hospital. You're gonna feel better when you get this done. I promise."

* * *

It took a lot of talk and a lot of coaxing but Red eventually agreed to go to the hospital on his own free will.

The fallen champion was very skeptical any doctor could do anything to ease his torment but he eventually caved in for the slight possibility that his suffering might diminish ever so slightly. He had no idea why Blue was helping him but he knew that it was better to accept his uncharacteristic generosity for it would most likely not happen again very often after that.

And so, the two ace trainers walked into the emergency ward of the Safron City General Hospital (Viridian City didn't have a psychiatric ward). Red was as uncomfortable as a magikarp in a desert, with all the people around, staring at him. Blue made sure to provide all the necessary information to the staff before the psychiatrist was called over to evaluate him in a private room.

As the doctor bombarded him with questions he didn't want to answer. Red felt the irrepresible need to close in on himself while his anxiety was starting to take over him. He didn't want them to know he was hearing voices. He didn't want them to know he had uncontrolable pulsions to do terrible things... He didn't want them to know the voices sometimes took over his body and made him do some of those terrible things. He didn't want them to know he had lost control... He was a good person.

It didn't seem to matter how hard he was trying to cover it all up. The psychiatrist saw past all of his defenses and the diagnosis fell: psychotic depression.

* * *

"They're taking me to the psychiatric ward," Red told his old rival, who had been waiting for him in the emergency ward. The brunette sounded scared and apprehensive. Unsure of what to say, Blue just scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Well... Don't be so upset. They're gonna help you. They know how to fix this."

It was the most reassuring thing he could come up with at the moment but unfortunately, Red just stared at him like a puppy being abandonned in a shelter.

Blue felt so uncomfortable he had to fight off the impulse to just walk out.

He had found Red and brought him back to civilization. He had given him shelter and now took him to a place where he would hopefully be cured. Now, he just wanted to go home and forget about the whole thing. He wasn't even sure why he had even helped his rival in the first place, while his initial intentions were to bring him down and make him feel the pain he had felt when losing his champion title. However, when he had found Red in a far worst shape than he could have imagined, it changed something in him and he wasn't sure he liked it.

The whole thing had made him feel conflicted about the way he saw his rival. The near death experience, though, had freaked him out so much he wanted to get rid of his burden as quickly as possible. So why did he feel so guilty leaving Red here? He had done his part, hadn't he?

"Listen, Red," he began awkwardly. "Everything's gonna be alright. You can sit on the Indigo League throne; you can do this."

Red was still silent, looking at his feet while two attendants approached the duo to take him to the psychiatric ward. Blue felt he had to say something to make it less traumatizing for the other trainer.

"You just come by the gym when you feel better. I'll take good care of your pokémon while you're gone." Then, he added with a hint of his signature smirk: "Don't come back until you're worthy of being my rival again."

As Red was gently guided by the two nurses out of the emergency ward, the fallen champion closed his eyes and took a deep breath to try and calm down his rising anxiety, holding on to his rival's words to motivate him to move forward, like they always did.

* * *

Red arrived in the psychiatric ward, shaking like a leaf, hearing and _feeling_ the double metal doors that separated him from the outside world lock automatically behind him. A nurse searched him to make sure he had no dangerous items on him and afterwards, briefed him about the various rules he would have to follow during his stay. He was measured and weighed. Luckily, the psychiatric patients were allowed to keep their regular clothes (so long as they didn't cause any trouble) and didn't have to wear the dreaded hospital gown. Red, however, had nothing but the clothes he had on at this moment, which were borrowed from Blue. He was then introduced to his room, which had minimal furniture; just a desk and a bed. The staff left him alone for a while so he could get accustomed to the place.

Alone and scared, Red just balled up in the bed, pulling at his overgrown hair, wishing he could be someone else. He just wanted to be left alone so no one could hurt him; so he wouldn't hurt anyone. Unfortunately for him, the staff had other plans and they forced him to come out because lunch had arrived. In the ward's dining room, Red caught a glimpse of the fourteen other patients that were left in the care of the hospital; a collection of boys and girls ages 14 to 17 (teenagers were never mixed up with adult patients for safety reasons). Most of them looked normal at first glance but there was no telling what was going on in their minds. As the weird-looking newcomer, Red inevitably attracted some stares and he reflexively shrunk to try and make himself invisible.

The fallen champion sat down in an isolated corner with his plate of food, not wanting to interact with anybody. The food helped to make him feel better. He hadn't realized until now but he was starving.

The former champion wanted to retire to his room as soon as he was done wolfing down his lunch, ignoring the other patients' attempts to interact with him but a nurse came to him to tell him that the psychiatrist that had been assigned to him wanted to see him. Despite his unwillingness, Red had no choice but to obey as he was led to a private office outside of the ward, where said psychiatrist was waiting for him. She was a tall, thin woman with glasses and frizzy gray hair. She looked serious and profesionnal.

Red refused to look at her scrutinizing eyes and kept his on the floor. Her questions started out simple and trivial. How was he? How did he like the food? What would he like to do after the consultation was over? Red only answered with one or two words.

"You don't have to worry," the doctor said at one point. "Everything you will tell me is strictly confidential and will never leave this hospital. Since you're 14, you are in charge of chosing who gets to know about your medical condition and who doesn't. Not even your parents have to know."

Of course, Red chose to keep everything about his hospitalization a secret. Immediately when the psychiatrist's questions got more personnal and intrusive, the brunette took refuge in his self-imposed mutism. Questions like: who were his parents? What kind of relashionship did he have with them? When did he start feeling depressed? Why? What brought him to the hospital in the first place?

It was Red's first stay in the establishment. They knew nothing about him. They wanted to know everything.

The teenager felt a cold pit form in his stomach when the doctor started asking about his hallucinations; about what it felt like to lose control. Again, he curled up in a ball in an attempt to block her words from reaching him and to stop himself from spilling the beans. He didn't want her to know he heard voices insulting him, threatening him, telling him to hurt people, telling him everyone wanted to hurt him. He didn't want them to be real. To be right.

The hour long consultation was over with Red barely having spoken a word. He was escorted back to the ward where he sat alone in his room for a good portion of the evening, pulling at his hair. The trainer eventually stopped with one long strand of ash brown hair between his fingers, realizing for the first time what he was doing.

It took a while for him to gather the courage but he eventually got up and exited his room to stop in front of the nurse's station window. "I'd like to cut my hair," he told the standby nurse.

* * *

Red spent his first night alone in the darkness of his room, a million questions running through his mind. Was it a good idea to come here? Would he ever get a normal life back? Did Blue bring him here to get rid of him? No matter how many answers he made up for himself, none ever seemed satisfying. The teenager eventually fell asleep thanks to the exhaustion all the emotional stress he had been subjected to.

The next morning, the staff had someone come over to take care of his hair. The horribly knotted strands were beyond saving so Red ended up having all of his hair shaved off. Starting anew was the only thing to do at this point and the boy didn't mind as the long brown strands were cut off and thrown away. When breakfast came around, Red was called by the nurse who offered him a plastic cup with several differently colored pills.

Though Red didn't even bother asking what they were, the nurse told him anyway. One pill was for anxiety. Whenever he felt his level of anxiety rise, he could come over to the nurses station and ask for a fast acting pill that would help him calm down. Another pill was an antidepressant. Red had been told at the emergency ward that he suffered from a depression that had gone untreated for far too long which had caused it to complicate into a psychotic depression. The antidepressants would help him fight off the depression symptoms which were an underlying problem that couldn't be neglected, for as long as they were present, his mental health couldn't possibly improve.

And a few other pills were antipsychotics. Just the word made Red shudder uneasily. It would help calm the hallucinations and quiet the voices, _eventually_ , they said. It was trial and error to find what collection of medication in what dosage would yield the best result for his particular case. Too little medication would not help him at all, while too much would slow his mind down so much he wouldn't be functionnal and could even backfire and have several negative effects on his health. The nurse explained that they started out in small doses and would increase it should it not be enough. Some types of antipsychotics might be added or removed from his prescription depending on how he reacted to them.

Red didn't believe for one second that a simple pill would deliver him from the monstrous disease that had taken over his body and soul but he found that he didn't care anymore. He was tired of fighting it. He was resignated to living in misery in the prison of his own brain for the rest of his life.

His second day on the ward was mostly a repeat of the previous one. Some of the other patients tried talking to him and make friends but Red shied away from every socialization attempt. He refused to partake in the various activities that were made available to the patients and spent most of the day hiding in his room.

When the evening came and it got progressively darker and darker outside, Red started to feel a familiar dread take over him. It was eerily familiar. It was like those nights alone in his cave. Whispers… Unintelligible words resonating in his mind. Disembodied voices, all talking over one another. It was happening again… _You're worthless. You have no friends. Nobody likes you. You're weak…_

Red's heart began racing as the voices grew louder and clearer, echoing in his brain, some sounding distant and some sounding like someone was talking right into his ear. Unable to stand still, Red stood up and started walking back and forth along the hallways. Outside, the sky was completely dark.

 _Don't get up. Stop walking. Run. You're stupid. You're worthless._ Red started walking faster, trying his hardest to calm himself down and convince himself that what he was hearing wasn't real, but he could barely hear his own thoughts over the cacophony of reproaches his sick mind was throwing at him.

He thought about asking the staff for help but just as he took a step in the direction of the nurses station… _Don't do it. They want to hurt you. They're watching you… They're coming for you… You're stupid… You're gonna die..._

Red started to shake uncontrolably. The teenager gathered all the willpower he had left to keep moving foward but then… **Don't do it! They're coming to kill you! You're worthless! You're weak! Kill them before they get you!** The voices grew so loud it physically hurt. On the verge of breaking down, Red crouched on the floor, clutching his head, feeling tears form in his eyes, trying to will the voices away but at the same time knowing they would win sooner or later. He saw, just in his peripheral vision, someone bending down to his level and Red knew it was professor Oak without needing to look up.

"You're not strong enough," his unreal voice said to him. "I thought you were worth something but you're not."

 _'Go away!'_ Red cried out inwardly.

"You'll pay for what you did," said another voice over his shoulder and Red instantly recognized it.

Slowly, he turned around as the white walls of the hospital began melting into some hideous redish-brown color. At the very end of the hallway stood Blue, his eyes glowing fiercely like a stalking umbreon's, his hand holding a gigantic rusty knife. Red couldn't scream; he couldn't run. He could only watch as his old rival ran straight for him, brandishing his blade menacingly above his head and then feel the unbearable pain of the stab right through his heart.

At midnight, right after the evening shift ended and the night shift began, the nurse and her assistant walked out of the station and into the ward to check on the patients; most of which were probably sleeping in their respective rooms. They were surprised to find their newest patient standing in front of the metal double doors that led to outside of the ward, trying uselessly to push it open.

"What are you doing?" the nurse asked calmly, keeping a safe distance. After a long delay, the boy said: "I want out."

For having been through this situation many times before, the nurse remained calm but vigilant.

"It's late. You should go back to bed and rest."

The teenager looked at her blankly. "Let me **out**!" he suddenly yelled on top of his lungs.

The nurse discreetely pressed on the panic button in her pocket to call security before trying to reason with the agitated and clearly disorganized patient.

"Red," she called out his name to try and bring him back to reality. "Stay calm. Don't yell-"

" **Let me out!** " the boy yelled again, punching the massive doors with all his might.

It wasn't long before three security guards walked in and tried to reason with the teenager but all he did was yell and punch the doors. The security guards grabbed a hold of him and immobilized him with swift efficiency.

Red was dragged kicking and screaming to the confinement room while all fourteen other patients he had woken up watched from the doorframe of their rooms. Red continued to trash wildly against the guards' hold until the nurse walked in with a syringe in hand. One of the guards grabbed hold of his arm and extended it. The needle pierced his skin, injecting the sedative into his system. After it was done, the guards let go of him and walked out of the confinement room, along with the nurse. The door was shut and locked and Red was left alone between four cushioned walls, screaming and punching at the door until the sedative took its effect and knocked him out.


	16. From the ashes

_Damn, where you guys at? I got almost no feedback on the last chapter, except for good ol' Eevee! Was it that bad? Or did it get a little too real that it frightened you guys away? Maybe everyone's on vacation. Just kidding!  
_

 _All joking aside, I want to know if there was something you really didn't like about the last chapter. I am aware it's a pretty painful subject but I DID warn you that this story was gonna get dark. Don't worry, though, this story arc is almost over. This chapter is not as disturbing as the last one and believe it or not, I actually have a lighthearted one on the way which will hopefully bring smiles to your faces._

 _Warning: bad language (mostly because of Blue, lol)_

* * *

 **Chapter 16: From the ashes**

Red woke up in an unfamiliar neon-lit room. The walls were all cushioned and there was nothing in it except for the bed he was lying in. His clothes had been taken away and replaced by a light blue hospital gown. There was just one sturdy-looking door with a small window.

He was in the isolation room. That could only mean one thing. He had lost control again. He had lost control and he was locked up in there so he wouldn't hurt anybody... like some rabid pokémon. He didn't blame them.

For the fallen champion, it was such a profound personnal failure that it hurt right in the heart. What kind of person was he, if he couldn't even control his own actions? A thousand unpleasant words came to mind. Crazy. Lunatic. Maniac. Psychopath. Insane.

 _I'll never be happy again_ , Red lamented inwardly. He let himself cry, not even caring about preserving his pride at this point. He was feeling like he was sinking in quicksand; the more he struggled, the more he sunk. He had no hope, no future. Nothing to live for. His father had abandonned him, his mother had probably forgotten about him, he had no friends, no one cared in the whole wide world and his pokémon... They were probably better off without him.

When a nurse came by to release him, he said nothing and just walked out, staring at his feet. He went back to his room and lied in his bed, wallowing in despair. He only came out when he was forced to: to eat, to take his medication, to shower and to meet his psychiatrist.

On his second consultation with the doctor, there were a lot of questions about the incident and she was persistant.

"Can you tell me how it happened? You seemed fine for most of the day. What happened to make you do what you did?"

Red tried hard to hold back but as the doctor kept repeating the same question using different words, he eventually gave in, too tired to fight anymore.

He told her about the voices. That they usually started occuring around nightfall. He told her what they said about him and about how they tried to stop him when he thought about asking for help.

As he actually tried putting words on his distress, Red started to understand what was happening to him a little better; to realize just how sick he was. The psychiatrist made him look at it from a completely different point of view; one in which he wasn't a freak but an unfortunate victim of a disease. It did little to make him feel better, though.

When she asked whether he believed what the voices were saying or not, Red answered that sometimes he did, sometimes he didn't. Sometimes he was lucid; sometimes he wasn't. Weird and incoherent thoughts would randomly pop up in his head but then, the next day, he would realize how nonsensical they were. The doctor told him what he was going through was normal, except 'normal' felt more like rock bottom to Red.

After the incident, the other patients didn't try to talk to him anymore. They either ignored him or very purposefully stayed as far away as possible from him. Red did nothing except sleep, lie uselessly in his room or walk along the hallway, mute, his eyes red and puffy.

The staff remained cordial with him even though the teenager didn't think he deserved it. They would smile at him, ask him how he was and offer help whenever he had to do something. The boy was lethargic and unresponsive but he was docile and obeyed the nurses without protest. He took all the medication they offered him and he even asked for it by his own initiative when he felt his anxiety rise.

After a couple days, he was allowed to get rid of the hospital gown and get back into his (borrowed) clothes. The psychiatrist met with him once more and had him see a physical doctor for an examination. Again, Red obediently submitted to the examination while the doctor measured his blood pressure and listened to his heartbeat and breathing. When his gloved hands palpated his jutting ribs, he unsurprisingly declared that he was dangerously underweight and that it was imperative for him to gain weight since he was in a very crucial part of puberty and that insufficient nutrition would negatively impact his growth.

So now, Red had to be weighed everyday and was required to eat double the amount of food for each meal. The food was bland and uninteresting to the fallen champion but again, he did as he was told.

He didn't feel much different. The medication didn't feel like it made a difference. He still felt hopelessly sad and lonely, without a cause, without a reason to be alive. He sometimes cried for reasons even he couldn't identify and this horrible choking anxiety would grab a hold of him whenever someone talked a little louder than usual. Even when the psychiatrist gave him permission to go outside of the ward with the rest of the patients for the routine outings, Red refused to follow, instead remaining hidden in his room.

It went on like this for three months.

As every aspect of his health was closely monitored, Red gained a good thirty pounds and even grew a few centimeters in a relatively short time. His hair had begun to grow back and he now had his thick ash brown hair covering his head again, though it was still a little shorter than it used to be prior to his depression. Physically, he looked much healthier; his skin was still pale but no longer sickly looking, he had a decent amount of body fat and an acceptable weight. The doctor even recommended he did some light physicial exercise to help kickstart his muscular growth spurt.

His overall better physical condition did little to help his psychological distress, though. Even with the staff's best intentions, Red was continuously tormented by anxiety spikes and his psychotic symptoms reared their ugly heads several more times.

He sometimes would start to panick for no apparent reason and when asked what was wrong, would yell about some people coming to kill him and soon after, cry out in pain from imaginary stab wounds. The nurses quickly understood that his panick attacks went beyong delirium, which in and of itself, was harmless. The teenager was actually reacting to his hallucinations very strongly. He would describe with frightening detail the pain he felt from being 'stabbed'. He would see himself be covered in blood and would writhe in vivid delirious pain and even though he wasn't aggressive, he grew so agitated that he had to be tied to the bed and sedated in the isolation room because nothing else seemed to be able to calm him down.

He also completely lost contact with reality a few more times. It always happened the same way: he would start hearing voices which would increase in volume and violence as time went on, and shortly after, he would become this totally different person and try to escape the ward, assaulting anyone who got in his way. Luckily, the highly experienced personnel prevented anyone from getting hurt and put him in the isolation room and sedated him whenever that happened and he would always go back to his normal self upon waking up. Each time, the psychiatrist adjusted the antipsychotic medication, adding some, removing some, increasing the doses. It eventually got to a point where Red became so groggy from it, he could barely walk or talk. Again, the dose was adjusted.

It took another month of trial and error and of Red drifting between two layers of reality before finally, they started seeing an improvement in his mental state.

It happened just like that, on a not-so-very-special day; Red noticed that the voices he had been hearing were becoming less and less intrusive and commanding. They were getting quieter and the teenager even managed to ignore them. He stopped seeing his murderous rival, he stopped seeing people that wanted to hurt him. He stopped feeling pain he shouldn't feel.

Red actually burst out crying one morning when he woke up in his room and not in the isolation room. This time, however, it was tears of relief. Tears, because he was finally feeling like himself again. He was finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. He wasn't out of the woods yet, but seeing, _feeling_ the first sign of improvement in nearly four years of suffering and unwittingly self-inflicted torment. It felt like he was finally breaking free of the chains that were holding him prisoner for four winters; like a metapod breaking out of its shell to become a butterfree spreading its wings for the first time.

Everyone could see the change. Though Red was still shy and quiet, they could see the occasional smile on his face when a nurse saluted him. The way he walked was more lively, the way he stood was prouder, taller.

One cold autumn day, four and a half months into his hospitalization, Red was called to his psychiatrist's office.

"You look good today, Red," she said.

Red smiled and nodded. During his stay, he had grown in every sense of the word. Physically, he felt good. He felt stronger, more alert and for the first time in forever, confident. His hair had grown back to the length he used to have for most of his life and though it still needed an actual cut, it helped him to look at his reflection, looking like something he would wanna be. He had also gotten quite the growth spurt during his hospitalization. The nurses had measured him recently and he had gained a good seven centimeters since his arrival. He was about 168 cm now, and showing no signs of stopping.

"I think you might be ready to leave this hospital. What do you think?"

Red had thought about it of course. He was eager to leave this place, reunite with his pokémon and start his life over with new maturity. But of course, the prospect was also pretty scary. He hadn't really been out into society in four years. Was he ready for that? What if he became completely lost out there? Was he really cured? What if he relapsed?

The doctor explained to him that his psychotic depression happened because his depression had gone untreated for a very long time. During his hospitalization, they had treated both the depression symptoms and the psychotic symptoms. Thanks to the medication, the psychotic symptoms were gone and would likely never return since he didn't have an underlying disorder like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, which required lifelong treatment and that he didn't take drugs, which were the trigger for an enormous amount of psychotic episodes. It was, of course, preferable to stay away from extreme stress. Though a relapse was unlikely, he had to be cautious because, she said, the second psychotic episode was always worse than the first one.

The depression symptoms, however, were much harder to treat and usually took much longer to get rid of. His depression was not gone yet but the psychiatrist felt he was strong enough now to manage on his own, granted he continued to take the antidepressants and didn't stop taking them until she told him she could.

With all this information and a new understanding of what he had gone through, Red was able to pack his very few belongings and after thanking all the nurses, who all wished him good luck, he walked out of the double metal doors, prescription in hand, feeling a huge weight lifting off of his chest. He had walked in there a broken, mentally crushed 14 year old. He walked out a stronger and wiser 15 year old.

It would be a long walk from Safron to Viridian City but Red didn't mind. He went on his way without hurry, simply enjoying the freshness of the wind, the feel of the grass beneath his shoes and the smell of the trees. Having people around him didn't bother him anymore. He paid them no mind and there was no voice to tell him they wanted to hurt him anymore. Pidgeys and spearows were flying around carelessly and a few ratattas and pikachus ran past him along the way. Seeing the electric mouse reminded the former champion how much he missed his beloved pokémon. They had been apart for so long. Red felt so bad for what he put them through and hoped they would forgive him. To be reunited with them, he had to go back to his rival first.

Red had thought about Blue a lot during his hospitalization. He couldn't figure out why the boy he thought he knew, who had nothing but contempt for him had helped him during his darkest hour, asking nothing in return. This was so unlike him, it made Red very confused. Though he fully intended to ask why he did what he did, Red still wanted to apologize to him and thank him, regardless of what his motivations were. Not only had Blue risked his life to find him on top of Mount Silver, he had given him shelter and had taken care of his pokémon during his absence. But even more important, he had taken him to the hospital so he could be healed. Red, who knew he wouldn't have gone to the hospital on his own accord in the state he had been in, was very much aware, now, that if Blue hadn't brought him there, his state would only have gotten worse. And who knows what would have happened to him, then?

And that was not even taking into consideration the terrible thing he had done to him. Worse than taking his title and humiliating him in front of all of Kanto; Red actually remembered what happened during his short stay at Blue's appartment, now. He remembered how close he had come to kill his former rival; strangling him to death, just like he did in his delirium induced nightmares. He saw the scene flash in his mind while he was recovering from his illness. Blue on the floor, desperately trying to push him away, to get him to let go of his neck and him, trapping him underneath his body, choking the life out of him with both of his hands. There was nothing Blue had done or said to him that could justify what he did to him and though Red knew that it wasn't _him_ who had done it, that it had been the illness that had taken control of his body and mind, he couldn't begin to even excuse himself for doing that to someone who had tried to help him. The teenager knew there was a fairly good chance Blue wouldn't forgive him for that, regardless of his previous mental instability. Red, though, would not allow himself to move on without at least attempting to apologize and explain himself. And the pieces would fall wherever they had to.

* * *

How incredible was it that his childhood rival had taken over the Viridian City gym after the crook Giovanni had left it and vanished? Last time he had really seen Blue (in a decent mental state) was four years ago after he had dethroned him. The outraged trainer had all but disappeared after throwing him the most hateful glare he had ever seen on a human face. Red actually remembered seeing him not long after, while he was apparently being mercilessly scolded by his grandfather but after that, they both had left Pallet Town and he hadn't heard from him again. He didn't actually stop to wonder if he was gonna see him again but he certainly hadn't expected their reunion to be what it turned out to be.

Red reached Viridian City at dusk and he immediately headed in the direction of the gym. Even before he opened the front door, he heard muffled cheering from inside the large building. Though he was a little aprehensive, Red pushed the door open.

Sure enough, the battle arena of the Viridian City gym was flanked by two rows of bleachers kind of like a stadium and relatively large crowd was cheering loudly, excited about the battle that was about to transpire before their eyes. Red felt uneasy among the noisy excited people but he sneaked icognito behind them, keeping close to the wall and eventually found a discreet spot from where he could enjoy the rest of the show.

The gym was fairly different from the claustrophobic maze it was when he had last seen it. It was now one huge open area with enough room for several battles to take place at once. Red noticed six serious looking trainers standing on either side of the large area, close to the crowds; the former champion supposed they had been previously defeated and like the rest of the crowd, their eyes were fixated on the battle that was about to take place at the very end of the room.

Red saw a trainer, most likely the one seeking the Earth Badge, standing proudly, a nidoking by his side, facing the gym leader who was standing on an elevated platform. The gym leader had his back straight, looking down at his challenger, a fist arrogantly resting on his hip, his other hand throwing a shiny pokéball up and down. Filling the huge room, the chanting echoed around the audience. ' _Iron Oak! Iron Oak!_ '

There on his pedestal, stood Blue Oak, in all his glory, his hawk-like eyes glowing with determination, not seeming in the least bit intimidated by the trainer who had just managed to defeat all of his trainees. He looked different than when Red had fought him for the title of champion three years ago. Apart from the fact that he had gotten older, Blue seemed calmer. His whole body language still radiated arrogance but he didn't seem so desperate to win this fight. Not that he looked unmotivated but somehow, Red could tell this battle did not mean as much to him as his battle with him had. He was a gym leader. This was his job. It was no longer a matter of pride. Of proving himself. Of beating a lifelong rival. The crowd quieted down and there was some sort of suspence, like they were watching a movie.

"Welcome to the Viridian City gym, challenger," Blue said loud enough for the crowd to hear the speech that he had no doubt recited many times before. The crowd let out a quick cheer upon hearing the words. "I am the gym leader of this city and if you want to earn the Earth Badge, you will have to beat me in single battle. Are you up to the task?"

"I'll take you on," the challenger, a young man, clearly not okay with being looked down upon by a fourteen year old answered confidently, his nidoking roaring in approval. Blue smiled with his oh-so-familiar superior look.

"Very well, then. Get ready."

Blue clicked the pokéball he was holding unlocked and threw it without delay in front of him. His enormous bulky gyarados came out of it, growling fiercely. A jolt of excitement ran through the audience, and even Red felt it. The perspective of witnessing what was sure to be a great pokémon battle made him shiver with anticipation.

* * *

"Hey, Blue," Red called softly.

Blue had truly demolished his challenger and all six of his pokémon in less than two minutes. Red had watched it all transpire and though he could tell the challenger was not a mediocre trainer, Blue's reflexes and decision-making skills were so sharp it was seemingly impossible to catch him off guard. He seemed ready for everything his opponent threw at him. His pokémon were stronger than the last time he had seen them in action and they responded to their master's commands with such efficiency it was like they were an extension of his being. It looked as though Blue had taken his grandfather's advice and had bonded with his team. There was more trust and comprehension between them and it showed.

After his glorious victory, Blue had let all the audience leave the gym and had walked out himself to reach the back of the building, where he now stood, enjoying a moment of peace under the starry sky, petting the long silky feathers of his Pidgeot's head.

When he heard Red's voice, he jumped slightly spotting his former rival standing a few meters away from him. His expression changed into one of surprise for a moment but the gym leader quickly put back his tough mask back on. Both Blue and his Pidgeot watched him intently, both visibly wary of his presence. Considering what had happened during his short stay at the gym, Red couldn't blame them.

"You're back," the strawberry blonde blurted out, not even sure himself if it was a question or not.

Red nodded, smiling slightly. He really wanted to convince Blue he wasn't a danger to him anymore, so he kept his distances. "I came to get my pokémon back," he answered simply.

"Oh." The gym leader looked pensive for a short moment. "Of course. They're doing much better. They're been playing around with mine a lot."

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. Red knew what he wanted to say but he was just so inept with words he always got stuck in situations like these.

"Look, Blue," he began, feeling extra-uncomfortable without his cap to hide his face like he did when he was uneasy. "That's not the only reason I came back here."

"I know what you're going to say," Blue interrupted him with a serious tone Red didn't know what to make out of. "You don't have to say it."

Red finally looked up at him with pleading eyes. Blue watched him suspiciously, closed off. There was an unreadable expression on his face. He looked angry but not for the reason Red expected him to be. "No, I have to say it," he persisted. Blue did not interupt again so he went on. "The only reason I could walk out of that hospital with my life back on tracks was because you took me there. I was lost, Blue. It was horrible. It was like a nightmare that would never end. I couldn't understand what was wrong with me. I couldn't see all the bad things I had done around me."

Blue listened with his arms crossed in front of his chest but his angry scowl was slowly softening.

"But I do know, now," Red continued. "I know what I did to you. And I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am. I wish I could tell you that it wasn't me. That it was this horrible disease that had taken over me but that's not an excuse."

His former rival actually looked away from him, uncrossing his arms and sighing. If he looked like he was ready for a fight just a minute ago, now he just looked tired.

"I don't ask you to forgive me," the former champion clarified. "But I still want to apologize for what I did. And to thank you. If it weren't from you, I'd probably have died on top of that mountain. And even if I didn't, I would never have been able to overcome this."

"All right, all right, enough!" Blue stopped him, throwing his hands up in exasperation. Red just stared at him, confused. "So, you know what you did, now?" he asked firmly.

"Yes."

"And you're not gonna do this kind of shit ever again?"

"No."

"Good!" the gym leader almost shouted, stomping his foot as if to mark the conversation as over. "Because if you try that again, sick or not, I will kick your ass so hard you'll be able to taste the sole of my shoe!"

The brunette just stood there dumbfounded, not really knowing how to react to Blue's outburst until he saw the latter huff and stuff his hands in his pockets, looking satisfied like he just delivered a one punch KO. Red shook his surprise off, not being able to help the grin that formed on his face. Now that was more like the Blue Oak he knew. That was just his way of saying "I forgive you." Good.

That was quite a relief.

Blue stretched like a lazy persian to relieve some of the tension in his muscles.

"Now that we got that out of the way," he finally said, growing serious again. "There's something I gotta show you."

* * *

Blue led Red inside the gym and back to his apartment, ordering him to sit on the couch with a tone that clearly expected no protesting. The brunette still felt some anger emanating from his former rival but he knew that it was no use pressing him for answers. Blue left him alone in the living room while he disappeared in the hallway. Red was curious about what he was doing but waited patiently. And Blue was gone just long enough for him to get lost in his thoughts and not notice his former rival walk back into the living room.

Red nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt Blue drop something on his lap. _Throw_ was more acurate, actually. Red was as surprised as he was confused to see a dictionnary-thick pile of letters tied together with a rubber band. The former champion weakly grasped the package, looking up at Blue, who was staring at him with a reproachful expression, his arms crossed over his chest again. He did not look happy.

"Your mom wanted me to give you these," he stated dryly.

Red ever so slightly perked up at the mention of his dear mother and looked down at the pile of letters on his knees. He quickly flipped through them; there had to be at least thirty of them. They all bore a bright red stamp marked 'return to sender' on them. Red's heart clenched painfully. His mom had sent him all these letters, no doubt asking him if he was alright and begging him to call her but none of them had found its way to him while he was on his self-imposed exile on Mount Silver. For four long years, the pure-hearted woman who had raised him, clothed him and fed him all by herself waited for a sign of his lost son and he was ashamed to admit to himself that he hadn't thought of her at all during his time away. At this moment, Red truly realized how badly he had fucked up.

The brown haired teenager looked up at his former rival, an overwhelming sadness twisting his face. Blue kept on looking at him, his brows furrowed and his glare icier than an articuno's ice beam. Red hadn't seen him like this in a long time. He hadn't _really_ seen him in a long time but this was the first time Red saw Blue so _pissed_. It wasn't the same kind of anger he had shown after losing his title.

"What the hell is wrong with you, you stupid dumbass?" he spat. "Your mom, who's the sweetest fucking lady in the world, is desperately looking for a way to contact her only son to see if he's alright and you – you can't even be bothered to write her a letter of even call her. So desperate in fact, that she has to turn to _me_ to take the letters to your sorry ass just in case I ran into you." Blue did not raise his voice but his anger was clear with the venom that dripped from each word. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked again.

Red found no words and merely looked down at his feet guiltily. His former rival uncrossed his arms and put an angry right fist on his hip.

"Now, you're going back to Pallet Town and you tell her that I dragged your useless carcass down from a moutain. And you better read all those letters. I didn't carry them around with me for so long for nothing. And I'm not your personnal courrier, goddamnit!" Blue huffed angrily and tapped his foot once; a gesture Red remembered Professor Oak also did when he was angry and turned away sharply and headed for the kitchen, leaving Red by himself in the living room again.

Red briefly wondered why Blue was so mad at him for ignoring his mother. He had expected him to be angry, but not about _that_. They hadn't exactly parted ways on the most amicable terms. It wasn't readily obvious why Blue cared so much about Red ignoring his mother. Hell, why did he even care about Red himself? Why did he bother braving the dangers of Mount Silver to bring him back?

Then it dawned on him why. Blue was pissed at him because he had taken for granted something he had always lacked himself; a mother's love. The gym leader was probably outraged to see him being so dismissive of the poor woman's feelings while he would have quite possibly given up all of his belongings to be in his place. Great. Now he felt like an extra-douchebag.

Red sat uselessly on the couch for a while, wondering what to do with himself when Blue came back from the kitchen with a steaming hot cup of tea, apparently calmer after venting his excess anger on him.

"Oh, I forgot something," the strawberry blonde said, casually setting his cup down on the coffee table. Red nearly choked on his spit when Blue smacked him upside the head unexpectedly, producing a loud 'clack'. Red rubbed the now sore spot, looking up at Blue with a confused frown. "That was also from your mom," the latter said with a 'don't blame me' face, quietly picking up his cup again and heading for his room. Red remained frozen in place until he heard the door slam. He guessed he deserved that one.

* * *

 _Blue's just so bad at dealing with real serious conversations, lol._

 _Guys, don't forget to review! I want you to enjoy this story and I don't want to lose the motivation to keep it going until the end. As of the end of this chapter, I can tell you that we are only about halfway through this story but I won't be able to go on for sixteen more chapters if you don't give me a little feedback, here!_

 _In case some of you are curious, what I described in the last few chapters is a pretty acurate depiction of a psychiatric hospitalization, albeit simplified (the real thing can get insanely complicated and I really don't see the point of explaining everything)._

 _Though what Red went through looked bad, it's actually not nearly as horrible as it could be. He actually had a good chance of getting a normal life back, unlike many mental patients who remain stuck in a vicious cycle for the rest of their lives._

 _In Red's case, save for is abscent father, he had a pretty normal family life, doesn't have any particular disorder (BPD, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are afflictions that stay with you for the rest of your life and can never be "cured") and does not have self-destructing habits such as drugs addictions and the like so his chances of recovery are greatly improved and makes a relapse very unlikely._

 _I wanted to show how terrible mental illness could be but at the same time, I didn't want to spend like seven chapters on it because it's not ultimately what this story is about. We are moving on to other things now._

 _(For my 'murican readers, 168 cm is 5'6.)_


	17. Homecoming

_I swear, these chapters end up twice as long as I originally intended to. I just can't contain myself. The last chapter, this one and the next were supposed to be just one chapter but I just added so much stuff I had to split it into three. This story was originally planned to be 20 chapters. I added so many plot points along the way that it's become much longer than that._

 _For some reason, the words come to me more easily when I write by hand. I started writing by hand around chapter 7. This is why the chapters have been getting progressively longer. A disadvantage is that I have to take the time to type what I wrote..._

 _I like to keep my stories as realistic and plausible as possible so I tried to keep this part as acurate as possible although it's completely possible that I was wrong about certain things. I am not a psychiatrist after all. But what Red went through looks very similar to what I see patients go through every day._

 _Beware. There's a lot of feels in this one. And langue because of guess-who.  
_

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Homecoming**

Margaret walked out on her front porch like she did every morning, a comforting cup of coffee in hand, watching passively as Pallet Town slowly came to life. The lonely woman took a sip and her thoughts drifted from one thing to the other, though her only son was always in the back of her mind. She watched as the postman came by, waving at him as usual. A handful of people, all absorbed in their daily activities walked by. When Margaret finished her coffee, the sun was already perched high in the sky and she decided it was high time she did something with herself. Putting on a wide brim straw hat, she headed to the back of her house to tend to her garden.

The big colorful flowers attracted a whole lot of butterfree and the vegetables, a handul of ratattas. She shooed those away of course, but she didn't mind the butterfrees; they were basically helpers when it came to maintaining her garden.

As she got to work trimming and cleaning her impressive variety of plants, she noticed two very far away silhouettes headed towards the town from the didn't look like anything special; they were too far away to make out any details so Margaret paid them no more mind and continued working.

A couple minutes later, she noticed them again out of the corner of her eye. They had gotten closer. Though not so close she could distinguish their faces but for some reason, the two silhouettes caught her attention. One of tem in particular looked awfully familiar...

Margaret dropped what she was doing and actually walked towards the main path, her eyes glued on the walking figures. When she saw a red cap, her heart skipped a beat.

She finally recognized the first figure's tell-tale strawberry blonde hair as Blue, who was heading purposefully towards her and right beside him stood her missing son, his head low, but alive and well. Margaret's eyes locked with Blue's for a moment and the young gym leader stopped a few meters from the Papenbrook house, allowing the reunited mother and child their space. Red walked past his former rival and Margaret closed the distance between them, removing her hat.

Red slowly looked up at his mother from underneath his cap. His big brown eyes were filled with shame and regret. Margaret put both hands on his cheeks as if to reassure herself that he was not an illusion; that he was really, truly there after more than four years of disappearance. Four years of total silence from what used to be her small ten year old champion. Her precious little boy had grown up so much, he was actually taller than she was now, his scrawny, shapeless childish body slowly being replaced by the broader, stronger body of a man, though it still had ways to go. She was overjoyed to see him safe and sound at last; so much so that she decided to scold him for his years of silence later.

Margaret held her son tightly in her arms, holding back the tears of joy and she smiled broadly when she felt him slowly, hesitantly, return it. They remained suspended in time and Red's hold got stronger and stronger and his mother could feel all of his emotions; his unspoken apology for having abandoned her like her no-good ex-husband did so long ago.

"Don't ever do that again, you hear me?" she demanded from her son, holding both of his shoulders. Red, his head still hung low like a kicked growlithe's, nodded wordlessly.

When she let him go, she saw Blue, who had been watching from a distance with a subtle smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Margaret turned to the gym leader, who looked like he was about to leave and approached him. The youngest Oak raised an eyebrow. Visibly, he hadn't expected to be included in the moment. Margaret laid both hands on his forearms and took him in a grateful embrace.

"Thank you so much for getting me my son back."

Red watched his former rival accept the hug, stiff as a board. His eyes were wide and darted nervously around and his arms remained glued to his sides like he didn't know how hugs worked. Red decided it was better to be amused at the sight of his arrogant and overconfident surprise helper blushing and looking all flustered.

Margaret let go of Blue and smiled warmly at him. "Would you like to come over for lunch?" she offered more casually.

"I, uh... appreciate the offer b-but," Blue stuttered. _Blue Oak_ stuttered. "I g-got stuff to do," he finished clumsily.

"Oh, that's too bad. I wanted to repay you for what you did in some way."

"There's no need. It was nothing."

Red couldn't help but think it sure as hell wasn't 'nothing' but he refrained from getting involved. Margaret nodded in understanding. Then, she turned to Red.

"Don't you think for a minute that you're getting away that easily, young man!" she scolded him. "You will be getting an earful today, count on it." Red gulped uneasily as his mother walked back into the house.

The two teenagers stayed side by side in silence for a moment, staring at the front door behind which the woman had disappeared. There was a moment of awkward silence and, surprisingly, Red was the one to break it.

"I don't know why you did what you did but... thanks," Red said genuinely, turning towards his former rival.

Thinking back at the whole ordeal made the former champion realize just how much things had changed, including himself. He found out that he wasn't nearly as mentally strong as he thought he was. He found out that he wasn't invicible or infaillible. Worst of all, he had found out that he was just selfish enough to abandon his mother to chase after the ghosts of a fantasy, just like his father had done with his family without a trace of remorse. He had completely lost sight of what was important and what wasn't and hurt the person dearest to his heart. He had lost even himself. For more than four years, he had been nothing but a hollow shell of his former self, wandering aimlessly amongst the icy winds and rocky cliffs, waiting for something he could not name, not even realizing how far gone he was; he deep into the abyss he had sunk.

Help had come in the most unexpected way; in the form of his rival, Blue, who had been nothing but cold and contemptuous to him before. A guy who had always looked the other way whenever he saw people in need who could have used his immense skill as a trainer. A guy who always seemed to care about himself and no one else actually went out of his way to bring him back to Earth, lecturing him for good measure and reunited him with his mother, not asking for anything, not even praise, in return. And he hadn't been to one to get scolded, for once.

Blue seemed to acknowledge his gratitude despite the expressionless look on his face. Another uncomfortable moment of silence stretched between the two teenagers. Neither of them were really used to having real, serious conversations with the other.

"Hmph... Well, smell you later," Blue said flatly and took a step towards the Oak family home.

"Blue," Red's call stopped him before he got too far. Red looked down at his shoes, chosing his words carefully, considering who he was talking to. "Why did you do all this? For me, no less?"

It was a legitimate question. The two ace trainers had a history of hating eachother; Blue feeling the constant need to prove how much better he was at everything. Their last encounter before Red's exile was less than pleasant. Red had ruined his dream and humiliated him in front of all of Kanto and more, albeit unitentionally. He would have been less surprised if Blue had come up Mount Silver to murder him than he had been when he actually tried to help.

Blue was silent for a long moment, his face blank. He seemed to be pondering whether or not he should actually answer him. Then, finally, he said:

"You have a mother who cares deeply for you and what you did to her was wrong. You needed to be taught a lesson."

At his words, Red couldn't help but lower his eyes in shame for a moment. His disregard for his mother's feelings was something he would never forgive himself for. The fallen champion suspected that wasn't the whole story, though. His generosity and selflessness was just too out of character for him to have only been motivated by empathy for his poor mother. Maybe he had completely changed and become a saint? Although a more plausible explanation would be that it was his way apologizing for the way he'd treated him all these years even though, at this point, Red had more wrongdoing to atone for than he did. It was difficult to say because, for as blunt and brutally honest Blue was, he could be surprisingly difficult to read.

Maybe it really was just as simple as he had put it. Maybe Blue really wanted to get him to realize how ungrateful he had been to his single mother. After all, he had lost his own at a very young age and it wasn't too much of a stretch to theorize that it pissed him off that he took his very much alive mother for granted.

"Besides..." Blue continued unexpectedly. "There's no satisfaction in kicking a guy while he's down. So if I wanted to keep kicking you, I had to help you get back on your feet first."

As his former rival turned back to head towards his old home, Red knew he saw a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Smell you later, Papenbrook!" he waved a hand lazily above his head and left Red alone in his front yard. The red-capped trainer sighed deeply, mentally preparing himself for the aforementionned earful he was gonna get from his mom. After that, things would finally go back to normal.

* * *

Blue stopped a few paces from his childhood home, staring apprehensively at the windows, wondering if there was someone inside. He stood there for a good two minutes. His feet wouldn't take him any closer to the house.

He didn't want to go back there. He didn't want to face Daisy… or his grandfather. Ever since he fought with the both of them, on his last stay in Pallet Town, his thoughts were all over the place. He felt angry and frustrated all the time.

Was it just part of adolescence to feel so alone and misunderstood? Why should he stay here? Neither Daisy nor Samuel gave a damn about him. They hated him. This place held too many painful memories.

He was an orphan. He had always been. He had always survived alone. This wasn't where he was meant to be.

Blue looked around him to make sure no one was watching and when he saw that he was alone, he stepped foward resolutely, walking right past his old house and into Viridian Forest, never looking back.

* * *

The news of Red's return spread quickly across the small town and it wasn't long before everyone became aware of it. The former champion had to prepare himself mentally for the inevitable bombarding of questions that would go with it.

The most difficult part had been to survive his mom's interrogation. Of course, she would expect an explanation for why he had vanished for so long but Red felt so ashamed of himself that he didn't feel like he was ready to tell her everything. So, he told her the story… just not the whole story.

"After I became the champion, I got scared," he told her, sitting in the kitchen after the thirty minute scolding his mother had just given him. She was currently standing in front of him, her arms crossed unhappily over her chest. Red knew there would be no escaping once she had pulled out her very own mean look.

"I didn't really want to be a champion. When I saw all these journalists throw themselves at me... When I realized I would be a prisonner of the Plateau until I was defeated… I freaked out."

Margaret wasn't even saying anything but her glare was just so intimidating, Red instinctively shrunk, lowering his head.

"I became obsessed with training. I wanted to become stronger, but it was never enough. So I went up to Mount Silver to train. I didn't realize it back then but I was suffering from depression…"

Margaret's angry eyebrows changed to a worried expression.

"Somehow, Blue found out where I was and he took me away from the mountain and to the hospital. I stayed there for a while… Until I was strong enough to come back."

Red remained deliberately vague about just how long he had stayed on Mount Silver and how badly his health had deteriorated. It was still too fresh and too painful to talk about his psychotic episode but he knew the truth would need to come out sooner or later.

For the moment being, though, Margaret seemed satisfied with his story and the teenager found himself unbelievably grateful his mother wasn't the nosy type. She probably understood and accepted that her growing boy needed to have some secrets of his own.

"Mom," he said pleadingly after standing up. The woman tried hard to hide the tears that threatened to spill out from her eyes but she couldn't. Feeling abominably guilty, Red took her in his arms and held her tightly, shocked from seeing her now so much shorter and frailer than him.

"I'm so sorry, mom," he cried. "I never meant to abandon you like dad did… I was a selfish bastard and I'm sorry. I'll never do that again."

It took a long time during which mother and son sobbed together before Red finally felt Margaret's arms uncross from her chest and wrap around his torso. It was like a balm on his tortured soul to know his mother hadn't given up on him and that she still had enough left to forgive him.

* * *

"Red! How wonderful to see you again, alive and well!"

Professor Oak enthusiastically patted Red on the back with a bright smile. The teenager smiled back and nodded.

The pokémon professor had just come back from some pokémon science conference in Johto and the news of Red's return had quickly reached him.

Red had spent the last few days resting at home, repairing the damage he had done to his relashionship with his mom. He had also gotten himself a much needed bunch of new clothes and shoes to fit his growing body as well as a new red cap. He also got a hair cut.

He slept a lot, too, enjoying the privacy of his old room and the peaceful quiet of Pallet Town. Everyday, he dutifully took his antidepressants and stayed away from any stressful situation.

Professor Oak had found him in his front yard as he was relaxing with his Pikachu curled up in his lap. The tiny electric mouse didn't even stir when the elder Oak came up to him.

"Where have you been all this time?" came the inevitable question everyone asked him. "You know your mother was heartbroken when you left!" Samuel grew serious. Red lowered his head guiltily.

"I know. I'm trying to find a way to make it up to her."

The elder Oak nodded in understanding. Fortunately, he didn't seem angry or judgmental, as though he could tell something very serious had been behind his disappearance.

"Well, it's good to have you back, my boy," he complimented. "You have grown a lot."

"Thank you, sir," Red said shyly, looking down at his snoozing Pikachu. There was a moment of silence before Red thought of something. "I've been away for a long time because… I was feeling very lost and depressed."

Red hadn't planned on sharing those sensitive details with professor Oak, or anyone other than his mom for that matter, but there was something he felt needed to be said to the old man about the implication of a certain young stubborn gym leader.

"I've been really lost, professor," the former champion told him gravely. "It got so bad I could have died…"

Samuel was visibly surprised to be told something so sensitive but he didn't interupt.

"The reason I'm telling you this is… I wouldn't be around anymore if it wasn't for Blue."

The teenager saw the old researcher's eyebrows shoot up and even his jaw drop slightly in evident shock. Clearly, this was the last thing he ever expected to hear. "Blue?" he asked as if he was unsure he had heard correctly. Red nodded sincerely.

"He found me when I was at my worst and he took me to the hospital. Without his intervention, I would have died. I'm sure of it, now."

Red was hoping that telling the pokémon professor this might change something about the attitude he had towards his grandson. Like most people, he probably believed Blue was still a selfish bastard but Red had seen with his own eyes that it wasn't entirely true anymore. The former champion had an ever growing feeling that Samuel didn't really know who his grandson was; who he really was. There seemed to be a facade Blue put on for the world to see but Red saw from the unexpected actions the other trainer had taken to help him in his darkest hour, that he may not be as cold and heartless as he was made out to be.

Though he never really knew what was the real source of the problem between them, Red thought that doing a little something that might improve the strained relashionship between Blue and his grandfather might be a good way to begin repaying his former rival's kindness.

"Blue did that?" Samuel asked incredulously.

The old man looked deep in thought for a moment.

"I thought he'd have told you," Red added. "We came back here together."

"You did?" Samuel wondered, surprised.

"Didn't you see him?" the teenager asked curiously. He had seen Blue head towards his old home after his reunion with his mother hadn't he?

A strange expression formed on Samuel's face; something between sadness and confusion. Both of them spontaneously turned to look in the direction of Viridian Forest.

"No, Blue isn't home right now…" Samuel ended up saying. "I haven't seen him in a while.

Red remained silent, equally confused. He thought Blue would have stayed at least a little while in Pallet but apparently, he had just vanished as soon as he had taken him there.

He remembered a few days ago, when he had told the gym leader that he intended to go back to his hometown. He had casually asked Blue if he wanted to come with him and Blue had looked pretty uncomfortable and reluctant. He ended up coming along anyway so Red "wouldn't get lost on the way."

There was only one reason Red could see why Blue would avoid Pallet Town like this. Just as he had suspected, his family problems hadn't gotten any better during his time away. Still, for Blue to run away like that, while he was usually one to fight off his problems, it had to be bad. This was very unlike him.

He could see from his demeanor that Samuel cleary knew why Blue had left without saying anything but Red didn't think he had business sticking his nose in other people's problems, though he couldn't help being curious.

"Well, there's no need to worry about him," Samuel said dismissively, smiling to camouflage his discomfort. "Blue's a big boy now. He can take care of himself."

The red-capped trainer agreed wordlessly, his eyes still fixated on the path to Viridian Forest.

Red had the occasion to get reacquainted with some familiar faces over the following weeks. Most notably Daisy, who he'd just found out would get married soon.

* * *

"Red! I haven't seen you in such a long time!" Daisy greeted happily when he came across her not far from his home. "I'm so glad you're okay! You're growing up to be quite a handsome young man!"

Red couldn't help but blush at the compliment, his shyness stunning him into silence.

He had also met with Daisy's fiance, a smart looking man who cordially shook his hand. Daisy looked head over heels in love with him and she looked very excited about her incoming wedding.

It was during a nice friendly dinner with Margaret, Samuel, Daisy, her fiancé and himself that Red truly realized how much he had missed. It felt like just yesterday Daisy was giving him the map of Kanto at the start of his pokémon journey, despite her pesky little brother telling her not to. The teenage girl was now a full grown woman and getting ready to start a life with her husband. Did time fly...

Though Red was never much of a conversationalist, he still tried to be polite and ask Daisy about the various going ons in her life. Her incoming wedding was almost all she would talk about but Red listened to her ramble on and on about it, thinking that she deserved this good thing in her life. Her monologue took on a different turn when the subject of her brother came up.

"I was hoping Blue would walk me down the aisle since, you know, our dad isn't here to do it..." she started, looking suddenly sad. "But he thinks I'm making a mistake and doesn't want to 'encourage' me. So he refused to show up."

Oh. So _that_ was why Blue left Pallet Town in such a hurry. Daisy was probably the only person in the world the youngest Oak _avoided_ confrontation with. His recent actions made a whole lot more sense, now. Though Red understood on a certain level why Blue did what he did, he didn't exactly agree with his chosen way to deal with the problem. Daisy looked genuinely heartbroken that her only sibling wouldn't want to be a part of the most important day of her life.

The former champion felt like he shouldn't be surprised. Not that he had seen it coming, but it was so Blue-like to dislike any guy that ventured around his sister.

"Red," Daisy pulled him out of his thoughts. "You and Blue are friends, are you?"

The red-capped trainer's eyes widened in surprise.

"Um... I don't know about that, Daisy."

He didn't know Daisy to be that oblivious. It was a well known fact that he and Blue were bitter rivals. Well, they used to be. Red honestly didn't know what they were anymore, after the whole Mount Silver incident.

"Would you try and talk some sense into him?" Daisy asked him, not seeming to have listened to his response. "He wouldn't listen to me or to our grandpa... But maybe he would listen to you."

* * *

In the following weeks, Red did some casual training with his pokémon but he spent most of his time caring for them to earn back their trust. He felt good. He felt happy. He felt at peace.

But as winter started coming around, he also began to feel the need to hit the road and become a traveling trainer again. Only after telling his mom he was going on a short trip and would be back before long did he allow himself to leave Pallet Town.

He took the road to Viridian Forest as his way out, since traveling by sea was really not as tempting in the near freezing temperatures. When he reached the Evergreen City, he stopped to look at the local gym's closed doors, wondering if Blue was around or off to an expedition of his own. Still somewhat bothered by Daisy's crestfallen face when the topic of the temperamental youngest Oak had come up, Red decided that he would try to talk some sense into his stubborn childhood rival.

He didn't have to look far. Blue was right in the gym's arena, apparently training with three of his sidekicks. The strawberry blonde didn't notice Red's presence until one of his trainees pointed him out. Blue raised a curious eyebrow upon seeing the red-capped trainer.

"All right, everyone," he adressed his sidekicks. "Training's over for today. You can go home now."

Once the trainees and their pokémon were gone, leaving the two of them alone in the huge room, Blue started talking.

"Hey, Red," he greeted casually. "I didn't expect to see you… You look like you got your life back on tracks."

Red nodded affirmatively. With his life finally back to normal, the brunette looked like a strong, healthy young man, now. The damage that had been done to his health was nothing more than a bad memory.

As for Blue, who had just recently turned 15, he had also grown quite a bit. He was practically the same height as Red though he retained a leaner build while Red had a little more bulk to him. Blue's voice had gotten deeper, more mature sounding, except he still had the occasionnal high pitched note because he wasn't quite done with the awkward voice change phase yet. Blue still had his meticulously maintained hairstyle and his moonstone pendant. That part hadn't changed.

"I was just passing by," Red told him.

"Heading back on the road, eh?" Blue inquired. "Well, good luck with that." This seemed to be meant to end the conversation. For some reason, Blue looked like he didn't want him here.

"Actually, I wanted to ask you about Daisy's wedding," the brunette threw out there, bracing himself for the difficult conversation that was sure to follow.

All traces of friendliness were gone from Blue's face at the mention of his sister.

"What the hell are you getting at?" Blue responded in a low warning tone.

Red knew he was in for a spectacular argument if he went any further but he was willing to take the risk in order to hopefully get his stubborn rival to reconcile with his sister.

"Did you forget?" Red pressed, still keeping his calm.

Blue narrowed his eyes suspiciously. The former champion let none of his discomfort show, keeping his natural pokerface up.

"Did that bastard old man send you to do his dirty work!?" Blue hissed, getting himself worked up.

Red was surprised by the harshness of his former rival's words. It was the first time he'd ever witnessed the blonde trainer verbally attack his grandfather like that. He had a look of pure resentment on his face. Just how much worse had things become between them while he was gone?

Red had learned from an early age, ever since Blue's parents had died, not to talk to his childhood rival about his family. Blue had quite litterally beaten that rule into him and the brunette had quickly learned his lesson. It was for that very simple reason that Red avoided meddling with Blue's personnal life or any one's life for that mattter. He, better than anyone, understood the need for a little privacy. Red kept mostly to himself, never interfering or voicing his opinion unless he was asked to.

However, he was also not one to turn down someone who asked for help, especially someone like Daisy Oak, who had been nothing but kind to him throughout the years. He still remembered all the times she had babysitted him as she cared for him like he was part of her own family. Blue really had no business treating her the way he did.

"It was Daisy who asked me to come talk to you," Red explained calmly.

Blue threw his hands up in the air, pacing around, nostrils flaring.

"Well that is just **so** much better! Just fan-fucking-tastic!"

Red just let him blow off some steam silently. When Blue stopped his erratic movement, he opened his mouth to say something, but the gym leader beat him to it :

"Who do you think you are, anyway?" he bellowed. "You think you can just walk back into my life any time you want and _lecture me_?"

Red couldn't help but think he hadn't even said anything to 'lecture' him yet but wisely kept his observation to himself. He knew Blue was just shouting random angry words right now, because he had no idea what else to do. He just wished he would understand that he was merely trying to fix his broken bond with his sister to repay him for his help. For saving his life. That was the only reason he took the risk to get involved.

"Blue, come on. I'm just trying to help you—"

"I don't need your help! This is none of your business! Now, please, get the fuck out of my gym."

Blue was glaring daggers at him and the brunette noticed that his hand was hovering above his pokéball belt. This was getting out of hand.

"Blue, I get what you're trying to do," he risked, thinking that maybe showing a little bit of understanding would get him to lower his defenses. "I really do. You don't want your sister to get hurt. I get it. But this is not the way to show someone you care about them."

"What the hell would you know about that? You're an only child!"

The volume of Blue's voice diminished ever so slightly and Red actually saw a deep profound sadness show behind his slowly crumbling mask. The kind of deep sadness Red had become well acquainted with over the last few years, that he was still fighting off to this day.

It was the first time he had ever seen his old rival like this. Blue was just such an expert at maintaining a tough, uncaring facade that one could easily forget there was a human being underneath.

"You don't have a clue when it comes to these kinds of things. It's like you used to treat your pokémon. You didn't try to work with them. You didn't give a single thought about what they wanted. You were always just forcing them to bend to your will. Did it work out well for you? No! And you're doing the exact same thing with Daisy and I'm telling you, Blue. It's gonna blow up in your face!"

Red was surprised by his own boldness; he who usually was too timid and passive to scold people, especially his hot-headed rival, like that. Maybe his past ordeals had toughened him up a little.

Blue just stood there, teeth clenched, visibly working to come up with a response. He tried very hard to keep up his angry scowl but it was a battle he was gonna lose and it pissed him off even more.

"You wanna help me? Get out of my life! Just because I did you a favor doesn't mean we're friends. We're not friends! I don't give a damn about you! You can go freeze yourself to death on that mountain again for all I care!"

Red had to admit that it stung very badly to hear those words and he had to take a moment to recover from it. This might just be the kind of stressful situation he was supposed to keep away from. He didn't get angry from it, though. It was clear from the way Blue was acting that he knew Red was right and he had no response to his impeccable reasoning. Backed in a corner and forced to look at his own flawed logic, Blue pulled out his last resort: lashing out at him.

"You don't want her to get married to that guy because you're afraid he's gonna break her heart but the only person who's breaking her heart is you!"

Blue reeled back suddenly, as if he had been burnt and just stared at his childhood rival with wide eyes, realizing all at once what he had done; confronted for the first time head-on with his mistake. For the first time of his life, he had no response. Red felt immediately bad when he saw the hurt; the utter defeat in the gym leader's eyes. He knew he had lost and it looked as painful as when he had lost his champion title.

This wasn't what Red had wanted but hopefully the message would get across.

Blue turned around, showing him his back and hiding his face.

"Leave me alone," he said in a blank emotionless tone.

"Blue, I just—"

" **Leave me alone!** " the gym leader spun around, shouting at the top of his lungs, his words echoing in the vast battlefield.

When Red didn't immediately obey his command, Blue shoved him harshly, almost making him tumble to the floor, darting at him the same hate filled glare he had given him in the champion's room. Lowering his eyes to avoid looking at his old rival, Red turned around and walked out of the building.

* * *

 _Yeah... Blue didn't get that whole 'maturity' thing down yet..._

 _I can't believe I didn't even have him use his catchphrase ONCE in this story so far. That had to be remedied. I also totally forgot to include professor Oak's forgetfullness... My bad.._


	18. Burying the hatchet

_I gotta say, I was pretty disappointed to get almost no feedback on the last chapter where a lot of important shit happened but well, I guess most people are busy with their families, too._

 _Eevee, you were (again) the only one to review and I love you for it! The translation is not perfect but I absolutely get what you're saying, lol. I don't have a blog, unfortunately. BUT when I'm done with this one, I might write another Blue-centric fic because I love him so damn much._

 _I'm always happy to see your reviews because you're a clever one and you pick up on all the subtle things I put in there (like the thing about Blue not being used to hugs) You really can read between the lines! You also obviously get the dynamic between prof. Oak and Blue and how messed up it is._

 _Yeah, it is really advised to avoid stressful situations for post-psychosis patients but it's really about extreme stress. Too much stress can be a contributing factor or a trigger for a psychotic episode._

 _Eevee, because you were the only one to review the last chapter, I am dedicating this chapter to you! The longest one so far._

 _Warning: violence and language in this one._

* * *

 **Chapter 18: Burying the hatchet**

It felt good to travel again. Wandering the road of regions he'd never been to, Red felt like a goldeen in the water. His pokémon were happy too. They hadn't gotten real good exercise in a long time. The former champion had the occasion to notice some slight changes amongst his team. They seemed particularly ornery and agitated. They were extremely eager to battle and Red had to be particularly stringent on the discipline so they wouldn't go overboard when fighting random low-level trainers.

During their stay in the Viridian City gym, they had spent a fair amount of time just playing with Blue's pokémon. It had been like a vacation for them. His Pikachu and Blue's Jolteon already got along since their early days, back when the latter was an eevee. They had become best friends during their time together, especially with their matching types. Red also was made aware that his Snorlax enjoyed sleeping under the shade of Exeggcutor's leaves, that his Espeon liked to meditate with Blue's Alakazam and that his Charizard liked to play fight with Arcanine. It was funny how two teams of pokémon who had spent most of their lives competing against eachother had so quickly become friends. Except Red's Charizard and Blue's Blastoise. These two hadn't quite worked out their rivalry and kept eyeing eachother suspiciously during their time together.

It was amazing how much pokémon took after their trainers.

Red's Charizard was brave, obedient and determined, very much like his master. Blue's Blastoise was proud, hard-headed and arrogant. The shellfish pokémon even had his trainer's haughty bearing which definetly rubbed Charizard the wrong way.

Were Blue and he never meant to get along? Red had thought that maybe he could have mended their tattered relashionship. They used to be friends many, many years ago.

After their last conversation, it had become clear to Red that his former rival suffered from loneliness. Otherwise, why would he freak out this badly at the mere thought of losing his sister? He literally had no one else in the world.

It was at least in part his own fault. Blue was seemingly incapable of admitting his faults or apologizing. His pride got in the way of every single one of his relashionships. His damn pride was on the verge of costing him his sister's affection.

Red initially thought that their argument hadn't solved anything but now, he suspected that maybe it did. Maybe what he needed was for someone to shove his mistakes right in his face. When Blue had actually shut his mouth for once might have been the one moment in his life where he actually listened; where the message got across.

Red knew when he saw the heartbroken look on his face that he had just forced him to do some introspection for what could be the first time of his life. And it looked like it hurt but the former champion now believed it was for his own good. A little tough love might convince him to change his mind about not going to the wedding. But Red hadn't dared to push any further when Blue had ordered him to leave. He made his point and Blue heard him. It was up to him to decide what he was gonna do, now. He probably had a lot of thinking to do and it wouldn't be easy for him.

Even so, the whole incident bothered him on a completely different level. Red was both blessed and cursed with the profound empathy he felt for every person or pokémon he came across. People liked to refer to him as a hero because of his willingness to lend his help to anyone who asked. But to Red, there was nothing heroic about it; it was the most natural thing in the world for him. He didn't do it for praise or even to get people to like him. He did it because he could feel other people's suffering almost like his own. It became even more true in the aftermath of his psychotic depression, which, he realized, had made him even more sensitive to other people's hardships… because he knew what real suffering was, now.

Seeing Blue's despair and loneliness (despite his best efforts to hide it), two feelings he was very familiar with, had inevitably caused Red to feel bad for him. He loved his sister; that much was obvious; but he didn't know how to show it. That alone could be a finishing blow on an already complicated relashionship. Red had experienced a similar problem just recently with his mother but he had turned things around just in time before it was too late. Was it too late for Blue and Daisy?

Blue had pushed him away because he didn't want Red to see him in emotional turmoil, he knew. That was his damn pride again; God forbid he actually accepted anyone's help. But Blue had saved his life and Red could not, in good conscience, just walk away and pretend nothing happened. Couldn'd they be friends again?

Red was perhaps the only person willing to accept his difficult personnality and it could possibly be the only way for him not to be so alone. Being alone and depressed had led to terrible things for Red and though he knew Blue to be very independant and not nearly as sensitive as he was, he wouldn't want him to go through anything like what he had been through.

For now, though, it had to wait. Blue was in no mood to make friends right now and as for him, he needed to go back to being a trainer and find the spirit that had made him a champion again.

* * *

After spending the winter months in Hoenn, traveling around and honing his skills as a trainer, Red was called by his mother, who informed him that Daisy Oak would get married in spring and that he was expected to show up.

So, Red quickly headed back to Kanto, did some quick shopping to get himself some nice looking clothes for the wedding and when the day finally came, the former champion let his mother adjust his suit and perfectly comb his hair. He was not allowed to put his cap on "or else!"

He wore a solid black suit with a white shirt underneath and a slim red tie to give a touch of his favorite color. His hair was combed back and gelled to keep it from flying in every direction like it usually did.

"Mom, I'm not the one who's getting married!" he complained as Margaret fussed all around him, tugging at his tie, giving his him a quick brush to tame his natually wild hair, checking his jacket to make sure there were no wrinkles anywhere.

She lightly slapped his arm to shut him up so Red gave up and waited for the fuss to be over.

The ceremony would take place on the beach, on the edge of the sea. Everyone was dressed in their best outfits, with perfectly groomed hair. The sun was shining. There were flowers. Flowers everywhere. All dressed up like a sore toe, without his cap, Red felt really out of place but he told himself that it was worth being uncomfortable for a day to make Daisy happy. True to his habits, once he had politely greeted everyone he knew, Red kept to himself, content with just being an observer.

It was only one hour into the gathering that Red saw professor Oak, neatly dressed in a charcoal suit, walk by, smiling enthusiastically at the guests who saluted him. The teenager could tell that the aging pokémon researcher was nervous; he was constantly casting worried glances around himself, as if looking for someone…. And it didn't take a genius to figure out who.

It was the question probably every acquaintance of the bride's family was asking themselves : where was Daisy's brother? The question Red asked himself, though, was more along the lines of : "was he gonna show up?" Professor Oak probably wondered the same thing but the stubborn gym leader was nowhere to be seen.

Would Blue work up the courage to come?

* * *

Blue was just finishing stuffing his clothes in his backpack, his mouth set in a straight line, when he heard the vibration of his phone yet again. He didn't bother to check who was calling; he already knew. Samuel had been trying to get a hold of him ever since he returned to Pallet Town. He always let his grandfather's calls go straight to the voicemail and he deleted each and every message he left without listening to them first.

He was tired of all these pointless conversations with his grandfather. They never solved anything; they always ended exactly where they started. It was too late, anyway. He knew Daisy was getting married at this very moment. He had gotten the invitation.

Ever since Red had come to lecture him about his attitude, Blue had felt even more on edge. During the whole winter, he hadn't felt like himself at all. No victories over his challengers made him feel proud anymore. Nothing he did felt like it had a purpose.

He had spent his whole life wondering why he was so alone. So misunderstood. Because of Red, the truth had slapped him right in the face. It was his fault. Because he couldn't step over his colossal ego to make his beloved sister happy. Because he was a selfish bastard and cared about no one but himself.

He had paced around the whole day, trying to work up the courage to leave his gym and go to the wedding. But whenever he got near the exit door of his apartment, he would falter. He didn't want to do this. Just the thought made him feel sick.

Daisy always said she wanted to marry under the sunset. The gym leader saw, outside the window, the sky exploding in pinks and oranges… And Blue sat on his couch, squeezing his forehead between his thumb and index finger, wishing he could will his thoughts to stop spiraling all over the place. A horrible feeling got a hold of him, chilling him to the bone and clenching his heart painfully. The gym leader rested his elbows on his knees, breathing deeply to try and calm himself down, only allowing himself to break down because there was no one there to see it

Losing Daisy; it was like losing his parents all over again. He had broken her heart. He hadn't been a good brother. He only had himself to blame.

Blue's hand went to his moonstone pendant subconsciously, feeling the irrepressible need to hold something. His finger tightly clutched the small teardrop shaped icy blue stone. He didn't want them to, but his thoughts went to his parents. How different would things have been if they hadn't been killed? If ever there was a moment in his life where he'd have needed their guidance, it would have been now.

He was truly alone, now. No family, no friends, nothing but himself and all the time in the world to think about it.

Blue was glad there was no mirror to be found in the room. He didn't want to look at himself in the state he was in. Is this what he was supposed to be? An emotional wreck pathetically crumbled in his living room? This wasn't him. Blue Oak didn't crumble like a weakling, lamenting over his dead parents and broken family. He wasn't supposed to ask himself why he ended up being the person he was and why the whole world seemed to have a problem with it. Damn them all for making him miserable! Blue felt like crying but he couldn't. He had stopped that a long time ago.

Daisy would never forgive him. She was moving on with her life, now. The days during which she raised him, took care of him, listened to him were dead and burried. He should have known it was coming. They were both growing up. A harsh dose of reality is what he was given on the day he learned of her engagement.

He wanted his grandfather out of his life forever. He had no one else to turn to. Nothing left... except becoming what he was meant to be again; the best pokémon trainer and gym leader there was. Working... training with his team so he wouldn't have to think about the mess his personnal life had become. There were a lot of ways to escape from a reality too painful to tolerate; some more dangerous than others. He was just gonna work himself to the bone. Don't think. Don't look back. Just train and train so you don't think about doing something stupid.

* * *

Everyone stood up when the bride joined the groom who took the hand Samuel was symbolically giving him. The crowd was smiling but behind the grandfather and the granddaughter's smiles was hiding a profound disappointment from not seeing who they hoped would show up the most.

Standing amongst the crowd next to his mother, watching what was meant to be a happy spectacle, Red felt an unexpected frustration take hold of him. Blue hadn't showed up after all.

Supposedly proud, tough 'Iron Oak' was running away like a coward. Red hadn't expected this to make him so angry but... how dare Blue lecture him about abandonning his mother for his own selfish reasons?

He had been right to tell him that he should be ashamed to have left without saying anything, but right now, he was doing the exact same thing to his older sister; the only stain on an otherwise perfect day. Red didn't know if either Samuel or Daisy would ever forgive him. Even he didn't know if he would be able to deal with this flagrant display of hypocrisy.

Daisy was busy accepting the congratulations from all of her friends, hand in hand with her new husband. Her eyes were sad above her radiant smile. _I can't believe you, Blue_.

He couldn't accept seeing Daisy like this. His childhood rival had gone too far this time. He had gone out of his way to tell him right from wrong... and that was exactly what he intended to do to this self-centered prick.

* * *

Red was fairly sure Daisy wouldn't mind him slipping away after the end of the ceremony, while everyone was busy dancing, so he could go and track down her stupid little brother and give him a piece of his mind.

The teenager quickly ran home, changed back into his regular clothes, grabbed all six of his pokémon and mounted his Charizard to fly to Viridian City at top speed. It wouldn't be easy to spot him. It was dark outside; night had fallen and there was a high chance Blue had left his gym to hit the road again.

It didn't take long for Red and his fire pokémon to reach the Viridian City gym. He descended closer to the ground. The building was completely dark. No lights behind the windows. It looked abandonned. Blue was probably already gone. Red cursed inwardly.

Blue could already be very far. He might have left days ago! There was no telling where he'd be, now. Unless...

The brunette pulled out one of his pokéballs and released his Espeon whose glossy violet eyes gazed deep into his mind. Red didn't even have to speak his command. The sun pokémon telepathically scanned the surrounding area, looking for the trainer who had cared for him during his owner's absence. Psychic types were able to detect the presence of any living creature in a radius that increased with the pokémon's power, especially creatures they knew well. If Blue was still within a reasonable distance from them, Espeon, who had gotten well acquainted with him, would find him with relative ease.

Red watched intently as the psychic pokémon's large ears twitched lightly as if looking to pinpoint the location of some unheard psychic wave and the jewel on his forehead glowed to show for his effort. The former champion supposed it worked like some sort of radar. It took a few minutes but eventually, Espeon opened his eyes and ran up north towards Pewter City and Red followed closely behind, ready for a fight.

* * *

The former champion found his lone figure walking along the uneven rocky terrain of route 2. Blue wasn't even using one of his pokémon to get around faster; like he didn't have a particular destination in mind. He didn't seem to pay attention to his surroundings because Red managed to get just within a few meters from the gym leader without him noticing.

"So you chose to run away?"

Blue visibly jumped from the surprise and spun around quickly, startled like he'd been caught doing something bad which wasn't really far off from the truth. The displeasure on Blue's face was made clear when he recognized the person who had followed him but there was none of the expected anger showing in his tired eyes. Instead, guilt seemed to weight heavy on his heart. He clearly knew what he had done wrong.

"I'm _not_ running away," he defended himself, his tone lacking its usual bite, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself.

"Yes, you are," Red persisted, taking a step closer. "I knew you were an immature selfish bastard, Blue, but this is low, even for you." The brunette knew his choice of words was extremely harsh but being his usual soft-spoken self wasn't gonna cut it with his brick wall of a rival.

Blue took a moment too long to reply so Red knew he was not ready for a confrontation. In fact, the gym leader seemed uncharacteristically distressed and unwilling to fight, though he was most certainly too proud to run away with people around to witness it. He looked like a pokémon who had nothing left to do but struggle.

"I thought I told you to leave me the fuck alone!" Blue turned back around to leave. Red had no intention of giving up so easy this time.

"You really have some nerve to lecture me about leaving my mother alone and then abandon your sister on her wedding day!" the former champion accused angrily.

"It's not the same thing!" Blue denied weakly. "Your mother loves you and cares for you! My parents are dead! My grandfather hates me! And my sister's building a new life and I'm not gonna be a part of it! Nobody cares if I leave! There, are you happy, now!?"

The gym leader took a deep breath, unsure of wether he had said too much. Red felt his anger diminish ever so slightly, sensing the real sadness and distress in his childhood rival and, incidentally, relating to him more now that ever before. With his uncaring mask down, Blue actually looked like a human being. Red wasn't done scolding him, though.

"Blue, Daisy wouldn't have asked you to walk her down the aisle if she didn't care about you. If she wants nothing to do with you anymore, it's entirely your fault. Now, you can either learn from this and redeem yourself like I did, or run away like a damn coward again!"

And just like that, the tough mask went back on and Blue, visibly not appreciative of the lesson he was being served, narrowed his eyes hatefully. He walked up to Red and leaned towards him so closely that they were nose to nose. The former champion fully expected to get punched in the face, but instead, the gym leader spoke to him:

"I wonder why your dad abandonned you, Red," he spat disdainfully. "Maybe it's because you would never mind your own goddamn business?"

Red was stunned into silence for a moment, not believing what his rival dared to say.

Blue, looking maliciously satisfied of having finally gotten his annoying neighboor to shut up, was in the process of turning around to walk away when Red, with a speed that would put a crobat to shame, spun him around and grabbed him by the collar, forcefully pinning him to one of the many rocky cliffs along route 2. The blonde trainer was caught off guard and let his back slam against the rocks. Red was darting at him an uncharacteristically icy glare that succeeded in freezing Blue in place for a moment and he knew, at that particular moment, that he had crossed a line.

Red's forearm was pressed against his chest, effectively preventing him from pushing himself off. The red-capped trainer could sense from how tense Blue was, that he was a little frightened. The former champion was reminded of how he had previously nearly strangled him to death during his psychotic episode and had no doubt that Blue was probably afraid the same thing was going to happen again but he hid it pretty well underneath his angry scowl. Red knew he was gonna regret being so violent afterwards. As for Blue, he seemed on the verge of snapping and he looked like it took every ounce of his self-control not to jump on his rival like a rabid houndoom.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?" Blue asked in a low warning tone, returning Red's glare with matching intensity.

"Don't you dare say anything like that ever again!" the brunette hissed, tightening his grip on the gym leader's shirt. It was unlike him to be physically agressive like that but Blue's words had touched a sensitive nerve and his former rival was an expert at rubbing people the wrong way. Years and years of pent up frustration with him had suddenly burst out of him like a ruptured dam.

"Get you hands off me, Red," Blue ordered, slowly raising his hands to grab the other trainer's wrist, letting him know he would use force if necessary. The fallen champion responded by burying his elbow deeper into Blue's sternum, not really processing the fact that he was deliberately ignoring a serious warning.

Red supposed he should feel lucky Blue wasn't as quick on the draw as he used to be when he was a child and he had no legitimate idea why he let him get away with pinning him to a cliff without immediately fighting back but taunting him about his dad's abandonment was just too big an insult for him to tolerate. Despite all the insults and tauting Blue had thrown at him during their heated childhood rivalry, the youngest Oak had never gone so far as to cross that line before, most likely because he too knew the pain of losing a parent.

"I will when you apologize," Red stated matter-of-factly. He saw his former rival snort in derision as if to say 'like hell, I'm gonna do that!' The atmosphere was tense around their heated stare-down.

"I said (Blue grabbed Red's wrist firmly) let go of me!" He tore the other's hand off of his shirt and shoved him vigorously away.

Red stumbled slightly at the unexpected force and he looked over at Blue as he pushed himself off the cliff, straightening out his shirt. There was something about the way he acted at that particular moment, so full of unapologetic arrogance that triggered a very primal, deeply buried impulsion that probably came all the way from his childhood and suddenly Red's first connected with his rival's jaw before he had a chance to stop himself. Immediately regretting his impulsive gesture, Red just watched wide-eyed as Blue reeled from the impact, evidently having not expected it, clutching his jaw. There was a second of silence during which Red could only think about how Blue was gonna make him pay and sure enough, Blue darted at him this familiar hateful glare he recognized instantly.

"This is the last time you hurt me, Papenbrook," was the only tell the brunette was given before the gym leader charged him, pushing against Red's midsection with his shoulder and taking him down like a wrestler. Not having had enough time to brace himself, the former champion went down like a ragdoll and found himself trapped underneath his infuriated rival.

Red felt Blue's knuckles connect with his jaw, then his cheek and his nose and he reflexively tried to protect his face by raising his arms. Blue continued to pummel him to the ground, not caring what part of his body he hit. There was no strategy or technique to it. The gym leader's knuckles indiscriminately hit whatever was in their way, motivated purely by unbridled rage.

Red was in a world of pain and after what felt was an hour of getting the shit beaten out of him, his survival instinct kicked in and he bucked his hips, throwing his enraged foe off balance. Blue had no choice but to interrupt his assault to try and maintain his advantageous position. Red took the split second he was given during which Blue's fists were not mercilessly beating him and grabbed his right arm, pulling it roughly towards him which upset Blue's balance even more and forced him to put his face in range for his opponent to reach.

Red caught Blue in a rudimentary headlock, trapping his head against his shoulder and using his other arm to hold his wrist, preventing at least one of his hands from punching him. Blue, whose neck was awkwardly twisted at a 90 degree angle (Red made it so that he wouldn't suffocate him) instinctively tried to pull out of his grip, probably hurting it in the process of struggling to wring himself out of the brunette's headlock, punching blindly at his sides. Red held on, though, hoping that Blue would wear himself out and calm down. He could feel blood dripping from his scalp and his whole face felt like it had caved in. Blue's furious attack had been like a cold shower on his burning anger and he felt more desperate to get out of this situation than anything, now. The gym leader, however, was like a dragon type in the middle of its outrage, growling furiously as he kept trying to escape the grip he was stuck in.

Blue eventually figured that he wasn't gonna do it that way so he swung his legs off of his target to try and stand up so he could possibly kick, stomp or knee his opponent to get him to let go. Adrenaline rushing through his veins, very much aware of the danger, Red let go of Blue's wrist and used all of his strenght and weight to hold Blue's neck pinned to his shoulder with both arms, preventing the gym leader from getting any further than on his knees. Unfortunately, this left both of his arms free and though he couldn't see where he was aiming, he had enough spatial awareness to punch Red right in his exposed liver repeatedly, his other hand clawing at Red's arms to get him to let go. It took a few seconds for him to feel it, but the pain from the repeated impact on the very sensitive organ hit him like a train and he felt his body threaten to fail him.

Red was seriously running out of ideas as his rival showed no sign of getting tired or calming down and he knew that he would get his ass whooped again if he let go of Blue. Everything hurt; Blue was relentless in his assault. The red-capped trainer had the breath knocked out of him when he felt his attacker's knee fall on his stomach. Blue was basically resting his entire weight on his unprotected stomach and it hurt so much that Red had no choice but to let go of him.

The two teenagers interrupted themselves for a few seconds, Red scrunched up in a ball, clutching his aching midsection and Blue finally pulling his head free and straightening up, coughing and rubbing his neck. Their eyes locked for a split second and Red could tell his rival was nowhere near done with his punishment. Blue did not give him the time to get up and threw himself at him again. Red acted out of pure instinct and kicked his feet in his general direction to try and keep him at bay. He got lucky and his shoe hit Blue right in the face, stopping his momentum. As soon as he felt his foot make contact, Red kicked him again with both feet, pushing with all this might, which caused Blue to fall back on his butt, clutching his face.

Red did not waste any time getting to his knees and getting on top of his dizzy rival. He considered hitting Blue again but stopped himself when he saw that his nose was oozing blood at an alarming rate.

Blue shook his head to try and clear his swimming vision, growling in fury and clumsily punching in Red's general direction. The former champion saw that his rival was just as angry as before but his rhythm, as well as the power behind his punches, had significantly diminished, most likely because of the blow to the head almost knocking him out. But true to his stubborn self, Blue refused to calm down.

"Stop!" Red pleaded, trying to grab both of his wrists again.

Despite his dizziness, Blue managed to evade Red's grasp and elbow him in the chin, stunning him too. Then, the gym leader grabbed him by the collar and pulled him down towards him, using his compromised position to throw him off.

The two teenagers kept fighting like that for what both felt was an eternity, neither of them truly managing to maintain control. Red knew he was physically strong; stronger than Blue was, but the gym leader had unbelievable stamina and agility. While the brunette felt himself getting more and more tired from the intense effort of keeping Blue under control, the latter didn't seem anywhere close to wear himself out and kept doing everything he could to wriggle out of his grip and punch him some more. The strawberry blonde also showed amazing resilience, managing to keep fighting coherently for elongated minutes despite the mild concussion he probably had and shaking off a multitude of painful blows from his bulkier opponent. He even was probably half blind because of the pain from his broken nose and still managing to give Red a run for his money,

It was made clear at this very moment that Blue was in better physical shape that Red was. The former champion was fairly certain he had the youngest Oak beat in a trial of pure strenght but Blue had always been a highly energetic kid and had remained very active all throughout his life, whereas Red had spent four crucial years of his growth period doing almost nothing which probably negated all the physicall activity he had done as a child and made it so that he was not even close to a comparable shape that his childhood rival was in. His superior physical strenght could only take him so far in this fight while his rival had better stamina, agility and speed; and Red knew Blue routinely trained in fighting with his Machamp. He had to end this fight, or else he was gonna lose it.

Unfortunately, it got to a point where Red found himself laying on his belly and Blue was holding his arm behind his back, twisting it painfully, threatening to break it. On the edge of panicking, Red tried to wriggle himself out, but Blue was keeping him floored by putting his knee in the middle of his back. Flailing like a magikarp out of water, Red managed to roll to his side. Blue refused to let go of his arm and tried to stay behind him where he couldn't be hit. Or so he thought. By pure luck, Red's trashing caused his free hand to hit him in the face again and the brunette actually felt where Blue's nose was broken. Immediately after he made contact, Blue let out a pained yelp and let go of his arm.

Finally free, Red rolled away as far as he could from his rival and the latter did the same, holding his very painful nose. There was a long moment of silence during which neither of them paid attention to the other and could only focus on how badly they were hurt. Red eventually sat up, turning to face his rival who was still in the same position. They both stared at eachother.

The two trainers did nothing, except pant and stare. Red tried to assess the situation through his foggy concussed brain. Blue was hiding the bottom half of his face with his hand but it was clear from the waterfall of blood that covered his chin and chest that his nose was hurt pretty badly. Not just that, but he had a quickly darkening blackeye from a punch Red had no choice but to unleash to keep him at bay. Even his knuckles were bloody and cut.

As for Red, though he couldn't see what he looked like, he could feel how swollen and cut up his face was and was certain his whole body would be covered in bruises by the next morning. His forehead was bleeding and the crimson liquid ran down his face, staining his shirt.

Red's mind was vacant. What now? He didn't think things would escalate this far; it wasn't like his usual calm, soft and peaceful self to engage in a fistfight like that. He had no idea what he was supposed to say or how Blue would react.

During their very intense frustration-fueled fight, they had both let out the excess anger in one explosive moment and now, like cars out of gas, they had nothing left. There was a strange calmness, like the quiet after a very violent storm, around them, now.

Whatever it was that Red expected, it certainly wasn't to see Blue hide his bloodied and battered face in his hand and his shoulders shake. The brunette actually thought for a split second that the gym leader had started crying and he felt a pang of guilt but then he heard Blue's giggles slowly build up to a hearty laugh that echoed through the night. Red watched in utter confusion as his friend just kept on laughing and laughing until tears appeared at the corner of his eyes. It was not Blue's usual snarky, mocking laugh but one that was more genuine than anything he had ever heard out of him. It was one of those uncontrolable laughs that served its purpose to let all the built up stress out.

The brunette couldn't help it. He gave in to the contagious sound and joined in. Red felt a huge weight lift off of his shoulders when he started laughing too, for the first time in forever. The two teenagers just kept laughing until they cried and ran out of breath.

Blue casually leaned back, supporting himself with his hands and finally calmed down, catching his breath, not caring about the tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Man!" he exclaimed, carefully wiping some of the blood oozing from his nose with his sleeve. "That was a long time coming."

Calming down himself, Red couldn't help but agree. It was like all they needed to fix their complicated relashionship, to let out all of the grudges they had held against eachother and to finally forgive eachother and bury the hatchet, was to beat the shit out of eachother with their bare fists. With no one to interrupt them, this time.

" _Finally_!" Blue suddenly shouted so loud Red jumped. "Red Papenbrook works up the balls to fight back!"

The brunette frowned in annoyance at the gratuitous jab at his pride but he was too burned out to be mad. It was true after all, that he had always chosen to be passive whenever conflict arose; especially with Blue, whose favorite passtime was pissing him off. Red found himself proud to have actually bit back this time and apparently, Blue was too.

The pair sat in a comfortable silence for a while, not caring about the blood dripping on their clothes or the sweat soaking their disheveled hair. Neither made a move to get up.

"You really gotta stop grabbing my neck," Blue said with a tired smile after a while, rubbing his throat. Again, Red felt a little guilty, even though he had tried to make as little damage as possible.

Blue looked up at the stars and Red mimicked his gesture, finding himself feeling more alive than he felt in years. Funny how things worked sometimes. Blue snorted.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do this to you, Papenbrook."

"Ditto," Red replied with an amused smirk.

Another moment of silence passed between the two and the fallen champion began to feel the need to say something now that he had burned out his anger towards his former rival. Something he had been wanting to say ever since he had brought him back down from Mount Silver.

"Blue, I'm sorry..." he said in a low, sincere voice.

"What the hell for?" the gym leader snickered, clearly not realizing how serious the brunette was.

"For taking the title away from you."

At this, Blue's smile instantly vanished from his face. "Oh..."

It seemed like the best time to bring it up now that they had wordlessly agreed on a truce. Maybe bringing it up was a mistake but Red felt that all those things left unsaid needed to come out now. He didn't want him to be an ennemy anymore. He looked over at his rival worriedly. Blue seemed serious and thoughtful.

"You can apologize if you want... but it doesn't really matter," he said with a calm, even tone. Before Red could even wonder about whether or not he was forgiven, the gym leader continued on: "It's in the past. I've moved on since then."

"I know how much it meant to you. Even back then, I knew." Red was uneasy about being let off the hook so easily. It didn't exactly appease his conscience.

"Red, before you get all mushy and misty-eyed on me," Blue stopped him, a softer, less mean version of his signature smile stretching on his busted lips, "I beat every gym leader. I beat the Elite Four. I sat on the throne and there's no one in the whole wide world who can say I didn't. And that's more than most of the trainers I see walking into my gym can ever hope to accomplish."

Red listened intently to Blue's words, surprised at just how much he had changed since that faithful day on the Indigo Plateau. Blue stared at him right in the eyes, more serious and sincere than he had ever seen him. "I got my shot. It may not have turned out the way I wanted it to but it doesn't matter anymore. I've moved on. I became a gym leader and it became my new purpose. That day, on the Plateau, I gave it all I had to give and I still lost but you know what? I think I did alright."

Red took a moment to truly ponder his friend's words. All these years ago, when they battled in the champion's room, Blue had fought with all his might against him; against destiny itself and now he had come to accept his loss, resting easy in the knowledge that he had done his best. It was only because his former rival had known he had given it all he could give that he had accepted defeat and was at peace with it. It was a harsh life lesson that he had been served in an even harsher way but Red could only respect the gym leader's resilience given the circumstances and wished he had been so wise when he experienced his own crushing defeat instead of destroying himself on top of an isolated peak.

There was still one more thing bothering him about the events that transpired that day in the champion's room. Something about a certain professor completely ignoring his grandson. Red never really knew why, but he always felt guilty about that. For reasons he couldn't really fathom, Samuel Oak seemed to like him a lot more than he did his own grandson. It wasn't like Red was actively trying to get the veteran researcher's affection but the old man saw something in him that he didn't see in Blue and whenever he thought of the latter's crestfallen expression when Samuel turned his back on him in the champion's room, Red felt sorry for him. He also replayed the scene in which he saw Samuel scold Blue from his bedroom window sometimes in his head. He remembered how miserable and heartbroken Blue had looked at that moment. Something terrible had happened between him and his grandfather; something horrible had been said, but he had no idea what it was. Blue never wanted to talk about his family, or his feelings, so it remained a mystery to him despite how many years they'd known eachother. Red truly wanted to help his newly found friend in any way he could but he strongly suspected that said friend wouldn't let him.

"About what happened with professor Oak..."

"Red," Blue immediately interrupted him firmly. He was smiling through clenched teeth, but he had a clear 'drop it' look in his eyes. Red obediently silenced himself, not wanting to piss him off again. The gym leader's expression eventually softened which let the brunette know he knew what he had been trying to do and appreciated it on some level but didn't want it to go any further. "Don't worry about it," he finally said. His gaze lost itself somewhere in the sky and his expression grew more somber. "That thing with my grandfather..." There was a short moment of silence until Blue spoke again. "It's not your fault."

Blue laboriously got up after that, signaling that this conversation was over. The gym leader didn't bother dusting himself off; he was a complete mess. Red also got up.

"Blue... what are you gonna do about Daisy?" the brunette asked with genuine concern.

It took a moment for Blue to answer. He just looked down at his bloodied jacket, his expression growing sad.

"I know... I messed up," he admitted.

Red was actually amazed to witness what was probably the first time Blue Oak ever admitted his fault but it was far from being as satisfying as he thought it would be. This was way too serious.

"I couldn't do it," Blue explained, emotion constricting his throat. "I knew it was the right thing to do... but I couldn't do it. I can't lie to myself, Red. I couldn't just show up there and pretend I was okay with it. So I let her go... I let _it_ go."

Red listened intently, feeling a whole new understanding for his childhood rival now that he was opening up for the first time. If only he could be like that more often, they could have remained friends for all these years. Now, he understood why Blue did what he did. Still, was he really going to throw it all away? Give up reconciling with his sister?

"It's too late, anyway," he went on. "I was always the... outcast in this family. They don't need me. And I don't need them. I'm used to being alone."

For some reason, Red wasn't convinced this last sentence was entirely true.

"I'm coming with you," he declared.

"What?" came the gym leader's confused response.

"I know you're intending to leave for a while," Red explained matter-of-factly. "But I'm not letting you go off on your own."

"Don't be stupid, Papenbrook," the blonde trainer snorted.

"I'm not letting you leave all by yourself and risk you doing something stupid," the former champion insisted. Blue raised a curious eyebrow, unsure of what to make of his concern.

"I don't do stupid," he replied snarkily.

Red knew that Blue was just pretending to not know what he was talking about.

"I've been alone and sad for a long time, Blue, and it led to terrible things. And if you hadn't done anything about it, I wouldn't be around anymore. Don't bother hiding it. I know you're feeling very lonely. And I can't, in my right conscience, watch the guy who saved my life destroy his without doing anything about it."

Blue just stared at him, not comfortable with how real the conversation had gotten. He hadn't ever really considered himself to be a savior to Red. He really just helped him because not doing anything would have had left a bad taste in his mouth. Since he wasn't used to be... helpful to other people, he wasn't used to people wanting to repay him for his actions, which Red was apparently adamant about doing. It wasn't out of pity. It wasn't out of moral obligation. It was because he _wanted_ to help him. What was he supposed to say to that?

"You always were way too soft," Blue lightly teased, a small grin illuminating his bruised face.

Red smiled back and the two teenagers silently agreed to start walking side by side back to Viridian City to hopefully get their injuries patched up and afterwards... They could go anywhere. At least they wouldn't have to be on their own anymore.

* * *

 _Well, it took 18 chapters but Blue and Red have finally become friends. What's in store for them, now?_

 _It wasn't originally my intention to make this fight scene so long but I got carried away. As an amateur kickboxer and and a big fan of martial arts in general, I wanted to include at least one bare-handed fight scene and who else could it have been with than Blue and Red?_

 _It was a fun little exercice to write that. I really wanted to make the fight intense but at the same time, not forgetting that neither of them are trained expert martial artists. The kind of fighting you saw in this chapter is a realistic depiction of two untrained fighters who act on pure instinct. And as you probably figured out by now, I like to keep things realistic. As in, not completely shrug off the possibility of injury while fighting and the way the human body reacts to being assaulted._

 _An impact to the liver, which is a section of the body that is not protected by the ribcage, is an extremely painful blow, much more painful than a blow to the head, actually. But it always takes a few second for the pain to register. An experienced boxer will often target the liver, rather than the head, because it can seriously incapacitate a foe._

 _Impacts on the skull can cause concussions of course. An interesting thing to know is that cuts on the face bleed a lot but they're not particularly painful._


	19. Battle legends in Alola

_Hello, all. It's frigid cold here in Canada, a lot more than usual. It's driving everyone crazy what with the -42 degrees celcius we keep having. But I'll survive. I was born in that country. I'm used to freezing my ass off._

 _Eevee, if you liked the cuteness in the last chapter, there's a little bit more of that in this one. This chapter is much more lighthearted than the previous ones; so it's like a little break from all the Oak drama. Will Daisy forgive Blue? You gotta keep reading to find out!_

 _A little heads up for this one. This chapters will contain a little bit of sexual humor but it's all in good taste. Still, it might not be suitable for kids to read this. Though this wasn't the main focus of this story, I spent a little time developping the two leads' experience with puberty and growth and all the physical and psychological changes that come with it. They become adults over the course of this chapter so sexuality inevitably becomes part of the picture, although I promise to stay true to my 'no pairings' rule._

 _Warnings: sexual themes and alcohol_

* * *

 **Chapter 19: Battle legends in Alola**

Red and Blue traveled around for a long time. Hoenn, Kalos, Johto... Anywhere organized pokémon Leagues could be found, the pair would be.

Neither of them expected to really appreciate a traveling partner this much but their newly formed friendship was like a blessing when it really came down to it. The two trainers gradually learned to trust eachother and it became part of their routine to train and battle their pokémon, pushing their skills to the absolute limit yet keeping no score. They both got ever stronger.

It didn't matter what region they were in. If there was competitive battling to be had, they would be there and neither of them ever had to suffer a defeat. Their names became famous in every region they visited.

Since their heart-to-heart on route 2, Red and Blue had come to an unspoken agreement to bury the past and to rebuild their relashionship on a clear surface; the past was in the past. They had been through so much together and had known eachother for so long that their bond had solidified into something beyond appreciating the other's presence. They were like brothers.

The reality of it was undeniable and they didn't have to put it into words. To Blue, Red was the one person who accepted him the way he was; who didn't try to change him and, what's more, had showed him kindness and tolerance like he rarely saw in his life. And Red hadn't talked to him about his family again. There was no judgment and suddenly, he didn't have to work so hard to keep on his tough front.

To Red, Blue was nothing less than the guy who saved his life in the darkest moment of his life. Having Blue save him in a completely disinterested fashion showed him that he wasn't rotten at the core; that there was a person who could be caring and generous underneath all this insufferable facade. Blue always was the one person who motivated him to become stronger. Not just as a trainer. You had to be tenacious and resilient just to keep up with him and it forced Red to become better every single day.

Three years passed and it still amazed the two trainers how they would remain on friendly terms and tolerate eachother. They were polar opposites but instead of tearing them apart, their differences made it so that they perfectly counterbalanced eachother's extremes.

Blue's confidence and natural tendency to be outspoken and arrogant was counterbalanced by Red's humility, politeness and timidity. Though it could be easy to label Blue as the angry explosive type, he actually was the more careful and cerebral of the two. Red was the impulsive one; throwing himself blindly in potentially dangerous situations with little to no thoughts given to the potential consequences. In most serious aspects of his life, Red was driven by his emotions and his inate sense of justice, which was not readily obvious since, introverted by nature, Red was a man of few words and he usually wore this austere serious look.

Meanwhile, Blue was far more careful and avoided taking risks if he could. He could even be a scaredy cat from times to times, not that he would ever admit it. He would often be the one to reason his friend before he could walk into danger unprepared.

Far away from Kanto, free from the psychological chains his difficult family situation put on him, another aspect of Blue Oak began to shine brighter. He grew much more sociable and visibly more happy. He wasn't nearly as short-tempered and tense as he used to be in Kanto and really, it was like the real him was finally free to show itself.

* * *

Red and Blue eventually made their way to Unova, and chose to stay there for a while to see what the region had to offer. That had become their way of doing things: visit a region, compete until they got the highest possible distinction and leave for the next one. Red hadn't been back to Kanto in all these years but Blue, being a gym leader, had no choice but to go back to Viridian City on a monthly basis to accept challengers. Red then took the opportunity to enjoy some alone time.

With the boys reaching adulthood, a lot of changes came. Of course, both of them had started to notice girls and take interest in them years ago but for the first time of his life, Red noticed that _he_ started to attract female attention himself. Not particularly comfortable with attention and having next to zero experience with the fairer sex, the brunette was mostly too shy to talk to them and boy, did Blue like to make fun of him for that.

Though he couldn't be considered a model or anything, Red was what most women would call attractive. He was a decent 175cm, not particularly tall, but not short either, had a healthy weight to him and an eyecatching muscle mass, courtesy of his genetics. His brown hair and brown eyes were nothing to stand out but his usual silent disposition and serious face made him look 'mysterious' which was apparently something many girls liked. However, Red was humble at his core and didn't actively seek attention. Most people recognized him as Kanto's lost champion and his status as a celebrity inevitably caused some agitation around him, as well as attracted a type of woman he wanted nothing to do with. Red didn't want meaningless, shallow flings. He could only allow himself to be invested with someone who cared about him as a person and not just as a well-off famous trainer.

It eventually ended up happening during his stay at Unova, when he met with a pretty young woman not far from his age as he was doing a little bit of wandering around. Luckily, Blue hadn't been there to tease the hell out of him when the girl had surprised him while he was setting up camp for the night, by randomly popping from the bushes. She happened to be a casual trainer and had quite enthusiastically challenged him to a battle. She seemed to realize who she was dealing with halfway through, while Red was fainting each of her pokémon without breaking a sweat, because she lost all concentration and got all embarassed and clumsy, which Red found quite adorable. When the battle was over, Red comforted her disappointment in her own performance and invited her to sit down next to him at his camp. It felt weirdly natural when they both ended up getting over their shyness and talked about everything and nothing until the stars came out.

They ended up seeing eachother on a few more occasions, always having fun until they eventually started dating. When he returned from his latest gym trip to Kanto, Blue made _sure_ to tease the hell out of him upon finding out about his newfound girlfriend. His reaction had been something along the lines of: "N'aaaaw! Little Red's got himself a pretty giiiiiirlfriend!" His annoying friend had made sure to be loud so everyone in the pokémon center they sat in would hear. Red had to pull his cap over his eyes, wishing he could use dig and disappear into the ground. Oh, but Blue wasn't done embarrasing him.

"Hey, I wanna be the best man at your wedding!" he continued to tease, slinging a lazy arm around his shoulders while his friend was quickly turning as red as his cap. Everyone was staring at him, it felt like. "Remember, use protection! Unless... You wanna be Daddy Red Papenbrook! I wanna be the godfather!"

God, how Red wished he could shove a pokéball down his throat to silence him.

"I hate you," Red mumbled, tucking his head between his shoulders, a deep shade of crimson.

"I hate you, too!" Blue shot back, smiling in satisfaction.

Red couldn't wait for the day his pesky friend would fall in love himself so he could make fun of _him_.

As it was, Blue was bound from the start to attract more attention than him. Not only was he a celebrity in his own merit, thanks to his (almost) perfect record as a gym leader but the young trainer was also far more confident and comfortable with fame than Red was. Unlike him, Blue talked and was not afraid to voice his opinion. That and the fact that he had unquestionably good looks was probably the main reason his face would pop up on various magazines and that he was often asked for interviews.

Whenever he would flash his signature smirk, girls would squeal. The gym leader, who was much more adept at dealing with girls, had no difficulty at all getting one. On top of his natural charisma, Blue had always been one to take good care of his appearance. Not that he was particularly vain but Red knew he was a guy who was specialy mindful of the image he projected. To maintain that separation between his public face and his true self was a defense mechanism to him.

Blue had his flamboyant, unusual strawberry blonde hair; always meticulously styled and maintained, sharp feline eyes, a satisfying 178cm in heigth (Blue also liked to tease Red for being 3cm taller than he was, though it was barely noticable) and though he was still on the scrawny side (courtesy of _his_ genetics) he was still amazingly fit and had a light, athletic built.

The thing with Blue, though, was that he didn't actively seek a meaningful relashionship with a girl. While he didn't content himself with just any skank that came his way, Blue never let any woman come anywhere close to his heart. He would chose one he had a certain affinity with to have a one night stand. It would occasionally get to a slight infatuation but it never went any further. Red couldn't really say he understood but he could at least respect the fact that Blue never tried to lead a girl to believe he wanted more than just casual sex...

The truth was, Blue had an extremely hard time trusting people and forming attachments. It had already been hard enough for he and Red to become friends; it would take a very special woman to melt the ice around his heart. It would take a woman who could impress him, who could throw him off his game and outsmart him. A woman who had mental strenght comparable to his. Red was impatiently waiting for the day his friend would fall head over heels in love, not just for the making-fun-of-him opportunity, but because he genuinely thought it could do him some good and heal his numerous psychological wounds.

* * *

The boys spent a very pleasant year in Unova but all good things had to come to an end and eventually, Blue noticed a change in Red's mood one day and he became certain something was up when the brunette had manifested the desire to accompany him to one of his routine trips to his gym, while he usually prefered to stay in the region they were in while he did his job.

Blue pretended not to notice how depressed Red looked. He was fairly confident he would talk when he was ready; not that he was particularly looking forward to that. He already suspected what it was about.

It was after a tiring day, where he had to tackle five challengers that Red decided to open up. The two friends were sitting on Blue's couch in his apartment (Red had become sort of like an unofficial roommate during their stay in Kanto). The TV was on but neither of them was really paying attention to it. Red was moping, looking down sadly at his now cold cup of tea and Blue was sprawled ungracefully next to him, dozing off.

"We broke up," the former champion let out randomly.

Blue opened his eyes and looked over to his friend reluctantly. He figured it was gonna happen sooner or later but he was not so eager to talk about it, considering he was as good at comforting people as he was at lying.

"You're not gonna talk about your feelings, are you?" he half-joked.

Red just stared at his cup like a sad cubone and so, Blue worked up the motivation to sit up properly and listen to his partner.

"What happened?" he asked with a respectful seriousness.

"Nothing much, really," Red mumbled. "We didn't even fight or anything. We just wanted different things."

Blue remained in thoughtful silence for a while, trying to come up with something comforting to say. Nope. Definetly not his forte...

"Don't worry too much about it," he said. "You're not ready to settle down yet but when you will be, there'll be plenty of girls to chose from."

Red didn't look up at him. This was going poorly.

"Ah, come on, Papenbrook. You gotta learn how to handle a little woman trouble without sulking like a kid."

Being gentle and caring wasn't his thing so he figured he could get his friend to snap out of it by getting a reaction out of him. It didn't seem to work so, in true pokémon trainer fashion, he changed his strategy.

"All right, here's what you're gonna do," he then said, slinging his arm around Red's slumped shoulders like he usually did to get his attention. "You're gonna go home, lock yourself in your room, pull all the curtains..." The gym leader made a dramatic pause like he was just about to tell him the meaning of life. "... and give yourself a good wank," he finished, giving Red a slap on the back and getting up.

He very intentionally turned around to look at the brunette's reaction: he was staring at him with this very unimpressed 'are you kidding me' face. Blue couldn't hide his amusement. Looks like the plan was working. "You know... since you don't have anyone to do it for you," he teased, holding back his laughter.

Blue knew Red was used to his mean and peculiar sense of humor by now and that he knew that his intent was to cheer him up and not to really mock him.

He saw his friend trying to look angry but he definetly saw him hide a smile. "You're such an insufferable dick," he replied throwing one of the sofa cushions harmlessly at him.

* * *

"Pack your shit. We're going to Alola!" were Blue's first words when he got out of bed one morning, blunt as usual.

"Where?" Red wondered, confused.

Blue explained to him quite excitedly that his grandfather's cousin, a certain Samson Oak had sent him mysterious jewels apparently know as Z-Crystals from this faraway tropical region he now resided in.

"Apparently, if you give one of these to your pokémon, it can enable them to perform this super powerful move."

It didn't take more than that to make Blue want to attempt the trip. It was high time they went back on the road, anyway. Blue was done clearing his list of challengers for a while and Red figured it would be nice to have a change of scenery.

Apparently, Alola had just recently built its own pokémon League and crowned its very first champion. The blonde trainer was very excited about the trip and the perspective of challenging a champion who apparently wielded pokémon he had never even heard of. Samson Oak and the Alolan League actually officially contacted them to become the leaders of their competitive battle institution they called the Battle Tree. Too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Honestly, it was hard, even for stone-faced Red not to smile at the sight of 21 years old Blue running around his apartment like a child in a candy store, hurriedly packing his clothes and toiletries and stuffing it all unceremoniously in his bags. When it came to his precious, carefully selected pokéballs, however, he meticulously secured them to his belt and proudly tied it to his hip.

While not quite as demonstrative as his friend, Red was also pretty stoked about the trip and he too took good care in chosing the pokémon he would take on the trip with him.

Neither of them had ever been to Alola before. The distant archipelago was renowned for its beautiful, diverse landscape, near constant sunshine and, even more fascinating for the two Kanto natives, regional variants to some of the well known kantonian pokémon. In Alola, exeggcutor grew as tall as 10 meters, or so they heard.

Alola was too far away from their homeland for it to be reasonable to use their pokémon to fly or swim there. Taking a plane was the only sound option. The plane trip was highly uncomfortable and infuriatingly long. Red and Blue played rock paper scisors to determine who would get the window seat and Blue ended up winning. The annoying rival then proceeded to sleep through almost all the trip and Red was tempted to draw a dick on his face just to get back at him but he unfortunatly didn't have a pen accessible.

When they finally landed, it was the middle of the afternoon on Akala island but the significant jet lag made Red very sleepy. The two friends didn't bother to check in a hotel and instead opted for camping in the wilderness, like they were both used to. Red slept like a rock but Blue, having already snoozed through the whole flight, went out exploring instead, avidly curious about the foreign country. He encountered several familiar pokémon on his trek but also found a handful of new ones he had never seen before. He didn't try to catch any, though, as he hadn't brought any spare pokéballs and he was on vacation and not on a 'business trip'.

When the evening came and Red became wide awake, Blue, true to his extraverted nature, hit the clubs to mingle with the locals and brag about his success as a trainer and gym leader. Red, though, was happy with staying by himself on the beach, admiring the sunset and then the stars while his pokémon fooled around in the water.

Blue's constant gloating had inevitably attracted some attention and soon enough, the local news were talking about the two 'battle legends' as they had called them, visiting Alola. Red was not too happy that Blue's big mouth had caused annoying journalists and paparazzis to follow him around and pester him with questions (Blue didn't even bother pretending he was sorry) but something good eventually came out of the mediatic frenzy and they both received and invitation from the Melemele island Kahuna (which they had quickly learned was some sort of chief/mayor/guardian/gym leader) to partake in a celebration in honor of their guardian deity, Tapu Koko. The pair had accepted happily and flown to the big island with their respective Aerodactyl and Charizard.

The duo had been greeted by the entire population of Iki village: kids, adults, elders and, more importantly, the Kahuna himself, an elderly round man with a cheerful demeanor and a passion for fighting-type pokémon.

Red smiled politely at all the admirers that came up to him and asked for his autograph and complimented his legendary talent. Though humility had never been his strong suit, Blue didn't seem bitter about the fact that the red-capped trainer got more attention than he did overall. He still happily chattered with the curious villagers, telling them about his lesser known exploits and his pokémon, his chest puffed up in pride. They also met the Kahuna's grandson, a young lad with an impressive team of pokémon who had tried, and failed, to take the title away from the first champion. Red thought he was a nice kid but Blue didn't seem all that impressed by him. Then again, very few people impressed Blue. Red had seen the guy sass a seven feet tall, two hundred and fifty pound pickaxe wielding hiker.

A big festival was organised near the end of the afternoon. Long wooden tables had been set at the center of the village and they were quickly covered in food of all sorts: exotic fruits and berries, six different kinds of meats, homemade pastries and an impressive amount of a local delicacy they called 'malasada'.

Musicians and singers started playing the rythmic and cheerful traditional alolan folk music. Red and Blue were given honorary guests' seats by the Kahuna's side and while the portly mustachioed man told incredible stories of the champion and some Aether Foundation that stirred trouble in the region not long ago.

The whole village ate and drank to their heart's content. Though he was enjoying the generosity as well as the food, Red started to feel a little overwhelmed with all the noise and agitation and started to feel the need to isolate himself for a little calm. Unfortunately for him, Blue knew him too well and caught him before he had a chance to sneak away.

"Where do you think you're going, huh?" Blue asked him with an evil smile. Red could tell from the way he talked, a little slower and sluggishly than normal, that his pesky rival was a little tipsy. He swung an arm lazily around his shoulders. "These people threw a party in your honor. You don't wanna disappoint them, do ya?"

The red-capped trainer sighed and was forced to honor the years his mother had spent on teaching him politeness by sitting tight as the villagers rose from their seats and started to dance to the exotic folk music in the center of the village which was illuminated by brightly burning torches.

Blue was sprawled lazily on a chair, admiring the villagers dance with yet another colorful tropical drink in hand. Meanwhile, Red sat by himself on the now almost abandonned table with a drink of his own which he sipped distractedly. Eventually, he got bored and stood up to lean on the tree next to his friend, who had just finished his cocktail.

"Why don't you join in on the fun?" Red asked, knowing his rival never backed down from a challenge, especially when it came from him. Blue stretched his arms above his head with a nonchalant look on his slightly reddish face.

"I don't dance," he said dismissively, not taking his eyes of the dozens of happy villagers twirling around.

"Oh, I thought you were good at everything," Red said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"I said that I don't dance. I never said I wasn't good at it." Of course, Blue Oak would try and save face with some tauros-shit like that.

"All right, then prove it," Red challenged, feeling that watching Blue embarrass himself would be a nice distraction.

Blue straightened up in his seat, looking at his empty glass like it was the most interesting thing in the world. "Maybe I will. I need another drink first, though." And just like that, he got up to get himself another. Red raised a curious eyebrow. That's not the way he thought it would go, honestly.

Red finished his colorful cocktail not long before Blue came back with one of his own. The music seemed to be getting louder and the laughter and chatter too. There was a very pleasant, relaxed ambiance to the island and Red felt himself envelopped by a sense of calm happiness. Before he knew it, Blue had finished his other glass and got up, stretching yet again like a lazy meowth.

"How many have you had?" Red asked curiously. He didn't know if he should be amused or worried for his friend at this point.

"Four... Maybe five. I dunno. Something like that," Blue laid his empty glass on the table, crackling his fingers. "Let me show you how its done, Papenbrook."

The strawberry blonde walked over confidently to the dancing mass and easily found a young lady, not far from his age, who was willing to take the hand he offered and started dancing with her. Red looked on with eyes wide. Maybe it was the alcohol, or just the festive ambiance, but he never _ever_ thought he'd see Blue Oak dance.

It was nothing impressive really but at least he was coordinated (Red wondered how he did that, what with the alcohol intake and all) and was able to follow the beat. There was no choregraphy to it. It was more like the kind of dancing you'd see in a night club but Blue did it flawlessly, despite his four or five drinks. He occasionally paired up with the girl he had chosen and danced in a duo with her, adjusting his moves to every song that the musicians played.

His 'exploits' quickly got the attention of the crowd around them and there was soon a circle forming around him and his partner while they danced and the villagers watched enthusiastically as one of their guests of honor really got into their festivities. Blue, of course, didn't seem to mind the attention and kept on dancing with a big content smile on his face and Red swore he saw him wink at his female partner. Honestly, the former champion hoped his rival would embarrass himself so he could tease him about it for the rest of his life but he was just a little too good for him to do that. Eventually, a bunch of kids gathered around the pair and started to mimic Blue's moves.

Red nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw someone stop in front of him. "Do you want to dance?" said a soft, friendly voice. The young trainer looked up and saw a young woman standing in front of him, extending a delicate hand to him. She looked very nice. She had golden skin and long dark brown hair and a sparkly pair of black eyes. Red felt himself blush. He was not used to female attention. The former champion looked down at her hand and then at her pleasant face. Maybe it was the festive ambiance; maybe it was the alcohol, but Red saw himself grab the hand and walk with the girl to the middle of the dancing crowd.

It was around three in the morning when most people had retired to their beds, tired and happy after a wonderful evening of celebration. Red had surprised himself yet again by dancing with the girl for the whole evening, not even giving a second thought about the possibility of looking stupid (dancing was definetly not a very developped talent of his) and they parted with the girl giving him a peck on the cheek.

That was usually the moment Blue would jump in and make it awkward because of the sadistic pleasure he derived from embarassing him but it didn't end up happening. Red sound found out the reason why. The gym leader was sprawled on a chair somewhere, snoring open-mouthed, his face flushed and his hair disheveled. The brunette had heard that Blue apparently fell dead asleep when he had a little too much to drink but that was the first time he saw it actually happen. It was kind of funny; hopefully he wouldn't feel too sick in the morning. Red himself was a little dizzy and clumsy from the few drinks he had but he stopped himself before he actually got drunk.

The Kahuna had offered them beds in one of the many guests room his spacious hut held, so Red took Blue's arm around his shoulders and pulled him upright so he could carry him to the house. Blue did not even stir so Red literally had to drag his limp body all the way. At least it wasn't too difficult for him; Blue probably never weighed more than 68kg in his whole life.

* * *

 _Here's that lighthearted chapter I was telling you about. I absolutely loved the way they designed them in Sun and Moon. Red is so adorable and Blue has that "fuck you, I'm on vacation!" look to him that suits him so well (except they forgot the necklace but maybe it's just tucked in his shirt...)_

 _This awesome game is the whole reason this story exists in the first place. Now, I haven't played every pokémon generation. But as far as I know, apart from gen 1, Red and Blue only had a few other appearances. And Sun and Moon was the first time since gen 1 they were seen together, in the same place and interacting with eachother to some extent and they seem on pretty friendly terms which begged the question: how did they go from ennemies in gen 1 to friends in gen 7? This is what this whole story has been trying to tell so far. The fic is not over yet, though so I will be creating a hypothetic follow up to their appearance in Sun and Moon._

 _I didn't know how much I wanted to write about drunk Blue until I did. It's a wonderful thing._

 _Thanks to everyone who review on the last chapter! I hope to hear from you for this one, too!_

 _Again for my 'murican readers:_

 _68kg = 150lbs_

 _175cm = 5'9_

 _178cm = 5'10_

 _The general consense around the fanart community seems to be that Red is taller than Blue and I initally thought that was so but when I actually played Sun and Moon battle tree multi battle, you can see Red and Blue stand next to eachother, Blue actually looks a little taller. I didn't make Blue taller because he's my fave but because I try to stick as close to the canon as possible, lol._


	20. To be a good brother

_Well, things have been quiet around here this week. You guys, I'm gonna start sulking soon if I don't hear from you, lol.  
_

 _I feel the need to explain the reason for the events in the first part of this chapter. It is no mere fanservice but a scene for character development. Though it IS similar to what you would see in a romance fic, I don't really count it as a pairing since it's a one chapter thing and that there is no actual romance involved (you'll see what I mean). I wanted to write a scene like this since the beginning because it was the best way to explain this particular aspect of my vision of Blue. Again, let me reiterate that this is not a story about love in any way and that I will stay true to my no pairings rule._

 _Warnings: sexual themes (nothing graphic)_

* * *

 **Chapter 20: To be a good brother  
**

"You're not from around here, are you?"

Blue smoothly turned towards the mysterious woman who had taken the stool next to his. The gym leader had been casually enjoying a drink in a very lively club in Koni Koni City. Red was off exploring the wilderness of Akala island, so Blue had decided to relax at the local hot spot for the evening.

The woman who had spoken to him was a pretty little number, for sure. She looked to be close to his age. She had gorgeous chocolate brown skin, chin length black hair and sparkling dark eyes accentuated by some expertly applied makeup. She wore an impressive amount of jewelery; around her neck, wrists, hips and even ankles but really, Blue was mostly distracted from the shining stones by the woman's curvaceous figure and exposed skin. Her pink, midriff baring tank top and booty shorts left little to the imagination.

"Is it that obvious?" Blue played along, offering her his best charming smile.

The woman's peach glossy lips smiled back, and she rested her elbows on the bar, mimicking Blue's posture. There was something about her that really caught the gym leader's attention and it wasn't just her ample bosom and overall hotness. The way she moved, the way she spoke, the way she carried herself; she radiated with a confidence he rarely ever saw in women this young. She looked proud and powerful in a way not unlike his own, except she didn't give off an aura of arrogance like he tended to. Interesting...

"Well, you wouldn't be so pale if you were from Alola," she lightly teased regarding the stark contrast of their respective skin tones. Blue laughed along.

"You got me there," he said playfully. "I'm Blue Oak," he added, extending his hand. "You may know me as the most successful gym leader in Kanto history but I was also a league champion in my time."

The blonde smirked, certain to impress her.

She did raise a curious eyebrow, amused by his flagrant display of 'show-offyness'. Not that he actually tried to hide it, anyway. He was an honest one.

"Well met, Mr Oak," she acknowledged, taking his hand and shaking it. Neither of the two could deny the little spark that originated from the simple contact. "I am Olivia, Kahuna of Akala Island and member of the Alolan League Elite Four," she recited, imitating his bold way of introducting himself.

Blue and Olivia spent a pleasant moment conversing about their jobs, their pokémon and his experience with Alola so far. After just a couple of hours, they talked like old friends.

"That's a nice pendant you got there," Olivia brought up eventually, eyeing the gym leader's moonstone necklace. Blue could tell that she was genuinely interested in the trinket. She did mention she owned a jewelery shop and that she was passionate about rocks and rock type pokémon.

"I've had that thing forever," he replied dismissively. "It's kind of a souvenir."

"Rocks are made of memories of things long gone. That's why rock types are the toughest of them all."

"I'd be inclined to prove you wrong about that," he challenged smugly, "but I'm not in the mood for a battle right now."

"Well, there are other things we could do," she trailed off suggestively. She got up, her ankle bracelets jingling with her movements. "I could show you my shop, if you like," she offered, leaning in very deliberately towards him, giving him a great view of her cleavage, the tip of her fingers brushing along the side of his neck. Blue felt a jolt of excitement through his whole body. She certainly didn't beat around the bush, this lady. She was just as aware as he was of the affinity they had with eachother. This evening was turning out great, after all.

* * *

Blue was awakened by the stufful that was currently standing on his stomach, staring right at his face with its round, black eyes. The small, stuffed-animal-like pokémon mewed at him when he opened his eyes, seemingly curious about his presence in its master's bed. "What, did I steal your spot or something?" he snorted.

The gym leader gently pushed the fluffy pokémon off of him so he could sit up in the bed and stretch his back and neck. The room was pleasantly warm and a gentle breeze originating from the open window caressed the bare skin of his chest. It was still dark outside but Blue knew it wouldn't be long before the sun would rise. He looked down at the resting form of the woman next to him and smiled in satisfaction.

What a great night it had been. It had ended in one of the most satisfying sexual experiences of his life but that was not the only thing he enjoyed about his evening out. He had been able to have a good conversation with Olivia; an intelligent and enlightening conversation he might add. The kahuna was evidently a very smart and capable woman who had full control of her life and destiny. Interacting with a woman as clever and down-to-earth as her was far more refreshing than he thought it could be. The sex part was just an added bonus.

It felt kind of nice to wake up next to a woman like that. It was the first real taste of a normal home life he had in years. Blue knew he had no romantic feelings towards the rock-type trainer and he also knew that she did not have any for him either. However, they shared a mutual respect and esteem for eachother as well as a clear physical attraction. He had no idea how or why Olivia was still single, young and beautiful as she was. Maybe it really was a choice. Maybe she was just like him; a lonely soul waiting for the special individual that could sweep her off her feet and still allowing herself to enjoy her youth and freedom in the meantime. One day... One day, he would settle down with a girl and build a proper, stable life for himself and, who knows, maybe even start a family. For now, though he wasn't ready to settle down and to fully commit to a single woman. He felt like he had still too much to do, too much to see and experience to give up traveling and become a gym leader full-time.

Blue scratched his head sleepily, still basking in the memory of his pleasant night with the beautiful Elite Four member. She was still lying down next to him, the covers merely pulled up to her midsection, once again giving him a nice view of her chest. Stufful mewed again, sniffing her and she started to stir.

"Did you sleep well?" her feminine voice asked him, her hand loosely grabbing his arm to get his attention.

"Of course, I did," he answered taking said hand in his.

"I must say, I'm impressed," the kahuna stated, petting her stufful on the head.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," he jokingly bragged because the opportunity was just too perfect. Olivia let out a small laugh.

"Not that... Well, _that_... (Blue winked at her) but I just can't believe no woman has claimed your cute little white butt, yet." The pair laughed together.

"What can I say? I'm a wild rapidash that can't be tamed," the gym leader explained in mock-seriousness. "Besides, I could ask _you_ why no man has slipped a big shiny diamond ring around your finger, yet," he teased, pandering to her love of precious rocks.

"I just haven't found the one big and shiny enough for me," she joked, sitting up as well, gently pulling his shoulders in her arms, resting his back against her chest.

There was a pleasant moment of silence during which neither of them said anything. Eventually, Blue had to break the moment.

"I gotta go. It's my last day in Alola and I gotta get ready to fly back to Kanto."

Olivia tentalizingly kissed his neck, playfully trying to tempt him in a second round. "I hope to see you again. You're always welcome to visit my shop. Even if I do find a big enough diamond ring, I can make an exception just for you," she joked again and the blonde trainer laughed again.

"As much as I would like to stay here and rock your world again, my queen, I would risk missing my flight because we'd be there for hours."

Olivia had told him the night before, that it would be better if he escaped through the back door before the sun could rise to reduce the chance of some nosy reporter spotting him and starting a frenzy of gossip about the island kahuna being seen with a Kanto gym leader.

"I really like your humility," she snickered.

"When you're as awesome as I am, you don't need to bother with that," he gloated shamelessly. "Besides, the sun's gonna rise soon and you wouldn't want the tabloids freaking out about you bringing in a stray like me into your shop, would you?"

With that, the gym leader got up, hunting for his discarded clothes. When he found all the missing articles and slipped them on, including his precious pokéball belt, he turned back towards Olivia who was sitting on the edge of the bed, observing him curiously with her black eyes, petting her stufful who was rolled up in a ball on her lap.

Blue tilted her chin up with one index finger and gave her a light peck on the lips as a goodbye.

"Alola was truly great. I'll definetly be back next year. Hopefully no one will have claimed us by the time we get there."

"I'll be waiting impatiently," she assured, waving him goodbye as he exited her room.

* * *

Blue decided to head for a nearby isolated beach so he could watch the sun rise over the ocean. It was a little known fact that he could, in fact, appreciate the beauty of such a simple thing. Not that anyone needed to know that...

It was still dark outside when he left Konikoni City. When he got to the shore, he removed his shoes and opted to walk barefoot, enjoying the feeling of the soft white sand between his toes. An orange glow started to show on the horizon. The sea was chanting and the wingulls were taking off to resume their search for food.

The gym leader stopped a few meters from the rolling waves. The warm breeze slipped into his collar and sleeves and caressed the skin of his upper body. Blue closed his eyes, just basking in the peace, not thinking about anything in particular. He stood there for a couple of minutes. When he opened his eyes again, the whole sky was ablaze in an explosion of reds, pinks and oranges. It truly was a sight to behold. Alola was a truly amazing place. The people here seemed more in tune with nature; not as stressed as the people of Kanto. It was sunny year-round. Living there, even if you worked, probably felt like a vacation.

The flaming ball of light showed itself far, far away on the horizon, as red as a magmar's body, and Blue was reminded of how the alolan people talked about a legendary pokémon living in the sun and another one living in the moon. Apparently, the champion had seen the both of them.

Blue sat down in the sand, letting go of all the tension in his back and breathing deeply, for the first time in forever, truly at peace. Yeah... he was definetly coming back next year.

He was interupted in his meditation by the familiar ringtone of his phone. The gym leader was tempted to simply not answer but he checked who was calling him at this very early hour of the morning. His heart skipped a beat whe he saw the name 'Daisy Oak' flashing on the screen.

Blue's peaceful moment was over as an unpleasant nervousness took hold of him. It had been a long time since he had talked to his sister. Their last conversation had ended in a bitter dispute. He had been quite disapproving of her choice to get married to one of their grandfather's assistants and had refused to walk her down the aisle at her wedding like she asked him to, as a way to protest. Blue had been an angry, immature and dumb teenager at the time.

With the maturity adulthood had brought him, with the addition of a lot of thinking about his past mistakes, he had reached the conclusion that he had been wrong to do what he did, even if he still did not approve of her choice. He should have fulfilled her request. For her. Not for the other guy, but for her. His unwillingness to come to her wedding was motivated purely by his own irrational fear of losing the only positive figure in his family and the wish to protect her from danger that perhaps wasn't even real. Blue wished they both understood that at the crucial moment but it was too late, now.

It had already been years since they saw eachother and now he regreted the things he had said and a hot wash of shame stopped him everytime he thought about contacting her during all this time. He loved his sister dearly but he hadn't apologized to her even after all this time because a part of him was still completely against her marriage even though he was the only one who ever had a problem with it.

However, it was mostly because of his immense pride that he had been unapologetic most of his life. Oh, he knew it when he screwed up or went too far but admitting it out loud and asking for forgiveness just went against his nature. Over time he had found ways to go around his oversized ego by making up for his mistakes in non-verbal ways... That's what he had done for Red... but when it came to his sister, he had no clue of how to reconcile with her, especially since he was not entirely convinced he was in the wrong in the first place. There was only so much he could do over the phone anyway. Still, this call was the first sign his sister had given him that she still wanted him in her life. Blue took a deep breath to work up the courage to answer the phone.

"Hey, Daisy," he said softly, bringing the phone to his ear.

"Hey, little brother," came his sibling's voice through the miniature speaker. She sounded friendly, if not a little uneasy. "How's the vacation going?" she asked in what was intended to be a casual way. She probably heard of his trip to Alola through their grandfather's cousin. At least Blue wasn't the only one feeling awkward.

"Oh, it's great, really," he said, running a hand through his spikes. "The weather's great. The people are great... There's incredible pokémon over here. You should see for yourself someday."

"Yeah, it sure would be great..." she trailed off weirdly, which Blue noticed and found odd.

"What about you?" he asked, still wondering why she was acting so strange. This call; the way she talked was very out of place. "How are things going with... your husband?" He really tried not to let his disgust show when he uttered the last two words but lying was not a very developped talent of his, considering he was more the type to be brutally honest about what he thought.

"Oh, well... By the way, I'm planning a little party for grandpa's 70th birthday, so..."

Ok, now he knew there was something wrong. And he had a pretty good idea of what the problem was about because of the none-too-subtle way she dodged his question.

"Daisy... you didn't call me for the first time in six years to tell me that." It wasn't a question. Daisy could hold a grudge for an awfully long time when she wanted to. He had experienced it firsthand. If his older sister decided to call him after all this time, it most definetly was not for small talk.

There was nothing but silence for a minute on the other end of the line, until Blue heard what sounded suspiciously like a sniffle.

"Daisy, what's going on?" he asked with a firmness that made him sound like their scolding grandfather.

"He cheated on me," she cried and Blue could clearly hear her sobs from the other end of the line.

It was an automatic, unconscious reaction. His jaw clenched and his knuckles turned white from the fury-induced strenght he closed his fist with. An image of his no-good brother-in-law flashed in his mind and he pictured himself beating the piece of shit to a bloody pulp and setting his remains on fire with his Arcanine's flamethrower.

"You asked for a divorce, have you?" he asked after he made an enormous effort not to yell at her and upset her even more. Daisy sniffled some more.

"I still love him," she admitted sadly.

"For _fuck_ 's sake, Daisy!" the youngest Oak exploded. "You're better than this! You're smarter than this! You wasted six years of your life with an idiot who doesn't deserve you and he thanks you by cheating on you! And you still love him? What are you, stupid!?" Had he not been this angry, he would have chosen his words more carefully but he was seething like never before.

"I can't let him go, Blue... I know he's an asshole... I know I could do better... But I still have feelings for him..."

Blue took a long breath to try and calm his nerves. There went his peaceful last day in Alola.

"You tell this motherfucker that if I ever see his face again, I'm going to break every bone in his body and feed him to my Gyarados!" he threatened in an attempt to let out some steam. He absolutely meant it, though.

His answer was more sobbing from Daisy, so Blue got up and started pacing back and forth, waiting for the both of them to calm down. All the feelings of anger and frustration he had felt when he had learned of her wedding plans came flooding back and he couldn't help but be angry at her for letting it happen to her in the first place.

"Blue, there's something else you have to know," she mumbled and her little brother immediately had a bad feeling that washed over him like a sludge wave. "I'm pregnant."

Blue closed his eyes, trying to hold back his nausea. That was the last thing he wanted to hear. He fought the impulse to just hang up on her. Just a few minutes ago he was relaxing on the beach watching the sun rise to nicely wrap up the best vacation he ever had... Amazing how quickly trouble caught up to him. What was he supposed to say? He didn't want to make her feel even more miserable than she already was but he sure as hell would not pretend he was happy about it.

"Does gramps know?" he simply asked to buy himself some time to figure out what he was gonna do.

"N-no. I can't tell him, Blue! I'm already embarassed enough as it is! He's been so supportive ever since I got married. I can't run back to him and tell him I've been cheated on and that I'm carrying the baby of this bastard that I still love!"

The gym leader pulled away from the phone for a moment, spitting out curses that would make Arceus blush. He resisted the impulse to throw his cellphone into the ocean.

It was in situations like these that Blue was reminded that Daisy truly shared some traits with him. Her pride, for instance. She wouldn't just run back to all the people who approved of her, congratulated her and gave her their blessing to tell them they had all been wrong. She made the choice to tell the only person who wasn't on board with her engagement because he was the person it would hurt the least to reveal the truth to.

"No offense, Daisy, but I kinda told you so," he said dryly after putting the phone back to his ear. It was history repeating itself. Daisy fell in love with a tool, and said tool ended up showing its true colors and made her cry. This was exactly what he had feared, and predicted, would happen.

Daisy didn't reply. "Why did you tell me this, anyway?" he pressed, his temper precariously under control for the moment. "You haven't talked to me in more than six years and now that there's trouble in paradise, you want to talk to me again?" A little voice in the back of his mind told him he should calm down, considering he had some wrongdoing to atone for himself but he was too mad to listen to it.

"Blue, I don't know what to do! I don't want to leave him but I won't bear it if he breaks my heart again!"

"So what? What do you want me to do? I sure as hell am not going to try to fix your relashionship with him. I told you, if I see his stupid face in front of me, I'll fuck him up so bad not even his mom will recognize him. You want me to help you? If you want my help, you're gonna have to dump him! I'm not helping you until you've learned your goddamn lesson!"

"Blue, don't say-" The young trainer cut her off, working himself up in a primeape-like rage.

"You can keep the damn baby; that's your business. Hopefully, it won't grow up to be a moronic cheater like its dad! But, I'm sorry. I'm not okay with the fact that you're crawling back to me after all these years just because you need something from me. You can't have the both of us, Daisy. You can't. Are you really not as smart as I thought you were? I don't have time for your bullshit! You're destroying yourself, Daisy! And I'm not gonna be a part of it!"

By the time he was done with his rant, he had been yelling at the top of his lungs, scaring a couple of yungoos and ratattas away from their hiding spots and his nostrils were flaring like a tauros'. He was pretty sure that if the conversation kept going like that, he would spit out a hyper beam not even his Gyarados could match.

He heard Daisy cry loudly over the phone and he felt his heart clench and a feeling of guilt take over him. As much as he wanted to hang up on her, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Yes, she was absolutely responsible for the mess she was in right now, but this was way too serious for him to just walk away and let her deal with it. Regardless of the way her marriage ended up being, a part of him still felt bad for abandonning her on what was meant to be the happiest day of her life. Up to this point, he had been too ashamed to even attempt to explain himself to her but now, an opportunity to make it up to her was knocking right at his door. He couldn't screw things up a second time.

The youngest Oak took all the time he needed to calm himself down to a reasonable state while his sister cried loudly. When he spoke again, it was with his rarely used soft voice, tinted with sorrow.

"Look, Daisy. I don't mean to make you feel bad but you gotta understand that it's very difficult for me to watch you do this to yourself over and over again. I told you getting married to this guy was a bad idea. Men are not prince charmings. I know you need someone to love you. I wish I had been there for you when it mattered. I wish I had been a better brother but I can't change the past."

The words were just coming out without filter and Blue told himself halfway through that there was no way he would have done that just a couple years ago. Years away from his family really had changed him.

"There's not much I can do for you, Daisy, but I'm telling you this for your own good. You have to let this guy go. The fact that he cheated on you is all the proof you need that he doesn't care about you. I... I'll get back to Pallet Town as soon as I can and we can figure out a way to settle this so you can move on with your life without him. I'll make sure _he_ does his part..."

The gym leader hoped his last sentence didn't sound as threatening as it was in his mind.

A minute passed during which Daisy's cries calmed down ever so slightly and eventually she spoke again:

"I'll be waiting for you," she said.

The Oak siblings hung up their respective phones. Blue was glad they had managed to talk things through but at the same time, he knew it wouldn't be as simple as he had made it out to be. Daisy hadn't agreed to his plan and that meant she could change her mind at any moment and go against all logic to stay with the man she loved. This is where she and him were completely different. Daisy was completely emotionally driven and followed her heart, even if it went against common sense sometimes. That was exactly why he was so carefull with who he let his feelings show. It was unthinkable for him to wear his heart on his sleeve at all times like that, vulnerable for anyone to stab.

The gym leader ran a hand through his hair, tightly gripping the light orange strands to relieve the itch to strangle someone. Blue then pulled out one of his pokéballs from his belt.

"Gyarados, go!" he shouted, hurling the white and red capsule high up in the air. In a blinding white flash, his gigantic water dragon flew out of his resting place and crashed on the beach, shaking the ground and sending sand flying in every direction. Blue's well-fed Gyarados was a much bigger specimen than the average wild individual, reaching an impressive 9m in length. The atrocious pokémon circled his master with his long body, immediately noticing his upset state, and stared at him, dutifully waiting for a command.

"Let's go," was all he needed to say.

Blue raised an arm high in the air and Gyarados followed the gesture like a musician followed a maestro's conducting. The water dragon lied down in the sand, slithering around his master like an arbok, close enough to him that Blue could grab a hold of his dorsal fin with his raised hand and hoist himself up on his pokémon's neck as a cowboy would on an unbroken rapidash. Blue sat on Gyarados' neck and the water-type launched itself into the rolling waves without needing to be told.

* * *

 _And the drama is back!_

 _In case some of you are wondering why I chose Olivia as the one-night-stand in this chapter: one, I like her as a character, two, I hate ocs (even when I'm the one who makes them) so I much prefered to use an already existing character, three, she and Blue just seemed to match as a not-in-love-but-totally-attracted-to-eachother pair and they seem to be around the same age, four, the games put a weird emphasis on how not-in-a-relashionship Olivia is and again, it fit with (my vision of) Blue who is a commitment shy bachelor._


	21. A fool to believe

_Here's chapter 21. Drama is back. I hope you guys like it! I'd be glad to read your reviews!  
_

 _Warning: violence and language_

* * *

 **Chapter 21: A fool to believe**

Blue was quiet for the entirety of the flight back to Kanto. Something was bothering him, obviously, and the simple fact that the gym leader remained silent as to why was the only indicator Red needed to figure out it had something to do with his family. The brunette knew better than to ask him about it. Even though, after six years of being friends, they grew as close as brothers, Blue still refused to talk about his family problems. Red was starting to suspect that, considering how his friend did everything in his power to avoid going back to Pallet Town, he was trying to sever the ties with his relatives completely. Whatever was going on in the Oak family, Blue deemed that cutting it out of his life would be less painful than keeping it close. It was easier said than done, though.

Red was as surprised as he was worried to have Blue accompany him to Pallet Town. The former champion wanted to see his mother for the first time since Daisy's wedding and stay at his childhood home for a while and he fully expected Blue to head back to his gym a soon as they landed in Kanto. As the two trainers made their way through Viridian Forest and towards the peaceful village, the only explanation Red got was: "There's something I have to do." Something bad had happened... or was about to happen.

* * *

Red definetly saw the trouble coming when he and Blue spotted Daisy and her husband talking in the Oak's front yard. They were too far to hear what was being said but judging from the flailing arms and rigid postures, they were visibly arguing. The former champion saw his friend's eyes narrow and his fists clench.

The fiery argument came to an abrupt halt when the couple spotted Blue heading their way. The blonde trainer advanced towards them with the determination of a boxer stepping into the ring. Red kept his distance, considering it was none of his business what was going on, but he very intentionnally stayed nearby where he could keep an eye on the events, simply because he knew Blue's temper could explode in the blink of an eye, especially if his sister was involved and that neither she nor her husband could possibly keep him under control.

"B-Blue!" Daisy acknowledged his presence with clear worry.

Obviously knowing her brother well, she instinctively put herself between him and her husband which only served to irritate him some more. Blue did not even stop walking and just pushed her gently but firmly out of his way.

Daisy's husband's annoyed expression changed to one of unease when the gym leader walked up right to his face with a murderous glare and he had no choice but to back away until his shoulders hit the wall of the house. Blue kept advancing until they were nose to nose.

There was a moment of silence and the tension was palpable. Neither Red nor Daisy ever knew that scrawny Blue Oak knew how to make himself look this intimidating; like he took lessons from his Gyarados, removing any willingness to fight back from his target who was almost shaking in fear. Blue was neither very big nor particularly tall; there was nothing inherently scary about him but the way he was now, glaring fiercely at his brother-in-law, Red thought even Bruno would think twice before provoking him. The brunette noted how his friend didn't go straight for the beating as he surely would have a few years before but he figured that he was just waiting for the guy to give him a reason to hand him his own ass. The gym leader was visibly enraged but that was about as much as he knew for the moment being.

"You…" Blue spat, making the extent of his scorn clear. "You have ten seconds to beg for forgiveness and leave this town forever before I shove those stupid glasses up your ass!"

"Blue!" Daisy attempted to interject but was ignored by both men.

"Who the hell are you?" her husband asked, trying to hide his fear underneath his previous anger.

"I'm her brother," the gym leader answered, his fists itching for something to punch. "And the last guy in the world you wanted to piss off."

"Daisy, what the hell is he doing here?" the man asked.

He remembered seeing his angry brother-in-law on a few occasions, mostly in professor Oak's lab. They barely spoke more than a few words to eachother but he knew that his boss' grandson had a reputation for being a former League Champion, a particularly ruthless gym leader and a notoriously arrogant and short-tempered boy. He hadn't been seen in Pallet Town in more than seven years, not even for his sister's wedding.

"Hey!" Blue shouted, grabbing him by the collar and slamming him against the wall to redirect his attention towards him. "I know that you cheated on her, you fuckface, and unless you wish to require the services of a surgeon to remove my shoe from your ass, you're going to apologize to her and give her all the money she needs to raise your fucking kid!"

Blue's angry shouting had no trouble reaching Red and the former champion gasped upon hearing the revelation. It all became clear now, why his friend was so angry and frankly, Red agreed with him on this. The guy needed to pay. Daisy's husband seemed as surprised to hear the news as he was.

Blue immediately knew from his reaction that he hadn't been aware of Daisy's pregnancy up until now. _Too busy laying with whores…_ Not that it changed anything for him.

Daisy once again attempted to interject herself between the two men, managing to get her little brother to let go of her husband's collar and to back off to a less threatening distance.

"Daisy, what in the world is he talking about?"

"Look, Henry, I can explain!" Daisy panicked.

"Explain what!?" Blue roared at his sister. "He's the one who has some explaining to do!"

Brother and sister exchanged a glance in the middle of the escalating confrontation. Blue couldn't believe what he was hearing. Daisy was actually trying to explain herself to her cheater husband! She wanted to stay with him! That was what he had been afraid would happen after their conversation on the phone on his last day in Alola. She was trying to work things out with him. He couldn't allow that to happen.

"I told you I didn't want kids before we got married!" Henry yelled angrily. "I told you. There's no way I'm going to take care of a kid and ruin the career I worked so hard to build!"

"Henry, please, would you just listen to-"

"Daisy, don't bother," Blue stopped her before she could continue. "The kid and you are much better off without this irresponsible douche."

"Hey, _boy_ , stop trying to meddle with my wife and I's business!"

Red knew, the moment he saw Blue freeze in his tracks that the fuse had been lit. Time's up.

In the blink of an eye, Blue spun around and threw a devastating left hook in Henry's face, breaking the skin of his cheekbone and instantly shattering his glasses. One punch from the infuriated gym leader was all it took and Henry's knees bucked, his arms falling limply to his sides, which was a clear indication in any combat sport that he was knocked out and no longer able to defend himself.

Red thought to keep his distance, having no problem with letting his friend punch a cheater in the face, however, he started to worry when he saw that Blue didn't stop to savor his victory. The gym leader did not let his target crumble to the ground and instead, punched him again right in the gut, causing him to bend over, the wind knocked out of him. Blue finished his flawless combo by giving an uppercut to the vulnerable man's chin. Blood drops flew into the air.

"Blue, stop!" Daisy screamed but Red knew from personnal experience words would not stop his friend mid-rampage. He wasn't there to win. He was there to deliver punishment and the fact that his foe was completely helpess to defend himself just made it easier for him.

This was bad. The former champion was certain that Blue wouldn't want to make himself guilty of involuntary manslaughter if he had the ability to think straight at the moment but the possibility was very real that he might accidentally kill the guy if he happened to hit at the right place with enough force.

Completely deaf to his sister's protests, Blue didn't allow his brother-in-law to fall down. Instead, he grabbed him by the shirt with both hands, pulled him away from the wall and threw him on the ground where he crashed helplessly. Daisy grabbed one of Blue's arms to try and stop him but she was nowhere near strong enough. The gym leader proceeded to kick and stomp on Henry for a few seconds until, as if he decided it wasn't satisfying enough, reached for one of his pokéballs. That was when Red knew he had to intervene.

The former champion bolted forward and firmly grabbed Blue's torso from behind to pull him away from Daisy's husband.

"Let go of me, Red!" Blue yelled furiously, kicking and trying to pry his friend's arm off of him.

"You have to stop, now, Blue," Red said calmly, holding on while his friend hissed and kicked at the air. Daisy was kneeling next to her husband, tears staining her face.

Blue proved to be as difficult to calm down as ever but at least Red didn't have too much trouble containing him since he wasn't trying to hurt _him_. "Fucking let go of me! How can you defend this guy!?"

"I'm not trying to defend him. I'm trying to keep you from doing something stupid."

When none of his struggling seemed to work, the gym leader roared in frustration but stopped kicking his feet. Red let his grip relax ever so slightly but knew better than to let go. Blue was still pulling at his arms to free himself; the second he would let go, he'd throw himself at his brother-in-law like a rabid houndoom.

" **What in the world is going on here!?** " yelled a new voice.

Everyone froze. Even Blue stopped moving completely. Professor Samuel Oak stood on the front porch, teeth clenched and trembling with anger. Blue felt cold sweat running down his back. The elder Oak descended from the steps and planted himself firmly between his grandchildren. The aging professor glanced at each person present and it didn't take long for him to figure out what happened when he saw Henry lying motionless in the grass and the blood on his grandson's knuckles. Samuel's glare landed on his face and Blue stared back with a mixture of anger and fear. Red never saw so much fury on the old man's face in his lifetime.

"Blue…" Samuel pointed an accusatory finger at him. "Can you tell me what went through your head when you decided to assault your brother-in-law?" Blue opened his mouth to protest but his grandfather did not even give him the chance. "I can't believe my own grandson…" Samuel ran a frustrated hand through his white hair. "This is the worst thing you've ever done! The nerve you've got! Are you out of your mind!? You do realize you could be arrested for this, do you?"

Blue was unphased despite the very real possibility that he could be charged for felony assault.

"The worst thing I've done!?" the outraged trainer yelled back. " **The worst thing** _ **I'**_ **ve done!?** This piece of shit cheated on your granddaughter! He got her pregnant and now, he wants to abandon her and the kid! Are you reallly going to defend him after he dragged Daisy's honor in the mud!?"

The expression on the pokémon professor's face instantly changed to one of utter shock. Samuel slowly looked over to Daisy, who was still kneeling next to Henry's unconscious body, asking her silently if it was true. Daisy's silence was the only answer he got and needed.

The patriarch kept silent for a long moment and Red felt he could let go of his friend, now. Blue glared at his grandfather as if daring him to side against him again. When Henry began to stir, the elder Oak glanced sadly over at both of his grandchildren, seemingly predicting how awful things would become in the coming minutes.

"Daisy, help me get Henry inside the house," he commanded in a grim, serious tone. "You can explain to me exactly what is going on while we patch him up."

The young woman shakily got up and pulled her husband in a sitting position as he was slowly waking up. "As for you…" Samuel stepped in close to the youngest Oak, giving him a cold, furious and eerily calm stare. Blue refused to back down, pointing his chin defiantly at his elder, glaring back. "You may not realize yet how badly you screwed up but you will soon enough. How many times have I told you… If you didn't learn to control your temper, you would end up hurting people you really care about?" Blue frowned, trying not to show his confusion regarding the somewhat indirect warning. "You are going to wait here until I've talked things through with your sister. I'll deal with you later."

* * *

"So, you're pregnant?"

Daisy and her husband were sitting in the kitchen of the family home. Henry was pressing a bag of ice to his face, half of it grossly swollen. Samuel was standing in front of them, arms crossed.

"Yes," the heartbroken woman confirmed, tears once again threatening to spill on her cheeks.

Samuel nodded thoughtfully, then turned towards her husband. "Henry, did you know about this?" His tone was stern and let him know that no lying would be tolerated. "I learned at the same time as you."

Samuel's thick eyebrows furrowed disapprovingly.

"And despite the fact that I took you as my assistant and welcomed you into the family, you cheated on my granddaughter and wish to abandon her now that she is expecting?"

Henry averted his eyes from the elder Oak, unwilling to face the consequenes of his actions. Samuel quickly lost his patience with him.

"Did you or did you not dishonor my granddaughter, Henry?" Still no answer was given but the truth was clear as day. "And to think I held you in such high regard. Some man you are! Cheating on your pregnant wife and you don't even have the guts to admit it."

"I told you I didn't want any kids before we got married!" Henry shot at Daisy.

"I hadn't planned on it! Please, Henry, let's talk about this!"

"Talk about this? It seems like you said all that needed to be said to that crazy brother of yours!"

"Enough!" the elder Oak interjected. The old man stepped in closer to Henry and looked him dead in the eyes to let him know he meant business. "I will not let you disrespect my family anymore! You realize that I could fire you, prevent you from ever finding work in another research center and that your reputation could be ruined if this got public, do you?"

Again, Henry said nothing but worry was clearly written on his face. "I would have done this without discussion or hesitation if it weren't for the events that have just transpired… Which is why I am offering you to make a deal."

The two young adults looked over to him curiously. "I will not fire you and none of this will be made public. I will have you transfered to another lab far away from Pallet Town. In exchange, you will agree not to get the law involved regarding my grandson's actions. You deserved a punishment for what you did. I suggest you take it like a man. A fair trade, don't you think?"

"B-but, grandpa!"

"Daisy, the decision is ultimately up to you but I would strongly adivse you let him go. You deserve better than an unfaithful man-child like him. I will give you all the financial help you need should you wish to keep the baby." The elder Oak gave her an apologetic look and turned to Henry. "I think you better leave for now, and take some time to recover from your injuries."

Humiliated and furious, Henry got up and darted for the door. Daisy got up too and tried to stop him. "Henry, wait! Don't leave me! I love you! Why don't we forget all that's happened and start over?"

"Get away from me, before your guard dog comes back!" he shrugged her hand away and slammed the front door. Daisy just stayed frozen on the spot, eyes filling with tears while her grandfather looked on sadly at the scene.

* * *

Red and Blue sat in silence in the Papenbrook's living room. The sky outside was dark. For what felt like hours, they'd been sitting there anxiously. His arms crossed over his chest, Red pondered the events that had just transpired before his very eyes.

He knew things weren't all sunshine and rainbows in the Oak family but this was the first time he ever witnessed a full-blown argument.

Blue sat, his elbows resting on his knees, facing the front door, nervously massaging his bruised knuckles. His eyes were dark and his mouth was set in a tense line. He was silent in his apprehension and impatience was clear in his stance. He was waiting. For what? Neither of them knew but the outlook didn't seem so good. He tried not to let it show but there was worry and perhaps even a little bit of guilt in him. Now that he had the chance to calm down, the full extent of his actions washed over him and he was slowly coming to grips with the possibility that he might have made a huge mistake.

Knowing just how bad things were now and having seen the whole thing unfold, Red could only feel bad for Blue. It wasn't every day that the gym leader took a stand for someone other than himself. His sister was pregnant, had been cheated on by the father of her child who intended to leave her after hearing about it. The former champion was never one to use violence for morally unjustified reasons but he really couldn't blame his friend for beating the crap out of the bastard in such a spectacular way. Red had been abandonned by his own father after all, and would probably have reacted the same way Blue did if he ever saw him again. And his mom would most certainly not have complained about it. Unfortunately for Blue, though, his situation was a lot more complicated and his violent punishment may have done more harm than good for Daisy, no matter how justified it had been.

Blue couldn't possibly have found out about this situation by himself, especially so far away on a trip to Alola. Daisy had to have made him aware of it, but for what? She should have known his reaction would not be a favorable one yet the former champion had seen her actually defend her husband against her brother; defended the man who cheated on her against the one who wished to avenge her. Blue only did what he thought was right. Daisy shouldn't have gotten him involved if she wished to stay with Henry. Did she have a sudden change of heart? Was there something he was missing? Things were such a colossal mess, he wished he could help his friend sort it out but there was very little he could do.

Both trainers' heads snapped in the direction of the front door when they heard it being openned. Blue stood up, holding his breath when Daisy walked in, eyes filled with tears. Brother and sister stood in front of eachother, Blue's gaze filled with worry.

Daisy looked up at his taller figure with absolute contempt and resentment. She looked like she was trying her hardest to hold back the full extent of her wrath and Blue could only look on in sadness and confusion. The intense staredown went on for a full minute until Daisy shook her head and turned around to walk out.

"Daisy, wait!"

The young woman spun around unexpectedly and her hand flew into his face with such force that he reeled from the impact. Red jumped in surprise. Blue stayed there, frozen, his completely shocked eyes remaining glued to the spot the harsh slap had sent his head snapping.

"You... You ruined my life!" Daisy began yelling mercilessly. "Because of you Henry's gonna leave and I'm gonna have to raise this baby all by myself!"

The fact that Blue didn't even move an inch and wasn't even trying to defend himself was especially worrying to Red but it did nothing to appease the furious woman. Tears freely ran down her cheeks, now.

"I was happy... I finally had a life of my own. I could be happy after spending my whole adolescence taking care of you!"

Blue's eyes widened in shock and he finally looked at her, the only person who could get away with hitting him. His expression had changed from one of shock and hurt to one of disbelief and heartbreak.

"Never show your face to me again! Ever!"

Daisy stomped back out of the house, leaving her brother and his friend alone in the kitchen. Red gulped uneasily and glanced over at Blue who hadn't moved from his spot.

The gym leader stood still for several minutes, staring at the door behind which his sister had disappeared. A deafening silence invaded the room and it took a while before Red found it in him to speak up.

"Are you okay?" he asked, genuinely concerned by the gym leader's uncharacteristic mutism.

He got no answer; no reaction. His friend was seemingly stuck in his own world for a moment, not acknowledging his presence, trapped in a whirlpool of pain, guilt and betrayal. How did it come to this?

Red took a step closer, hesitating about whether it was a good idea to try and snap him out of his current state. "You can crash on the couch for tonight if you want," he offered, unable to think of a better way to be helpful.

"No," Blue finally said. His voice was dead and devoid of emotion. "I'm going home."

The gym leader didn't even look at him before simply walking out of the house into the darkness of the night all by himself.


	22. Remember who you are

_You guys like drama? Here's some more drama!_

 _Thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter. It helps me keep going!_

 _I'm glad you guys found it intense and entertaining. I do my best to convey the emotions._

 _Warning: language, alcohol and feels_

* * *

 **Chapter 22: Remember who you are**

Red gave Blue a couple days to recover from the incident with his sister, knowing he would need space, peace and quiet. He had no clue how his friend was gonna deal with such a harsh punishment; he didn't know how he was gonna react. One thing was for sure, though. No one had seen or heard about him since he left. Even his gym had been closed, which was probably pissing the League off. Knowing him, he could be anywhere; in his gym or halfway across the world. Blue didn't answer his phone or reply to his texts. There was nothing but dead silence for a week.

Red hadn't seen Daisy or her now ex-husband either; not that he had been looking for them. Up to this point, he, and pretty much everybody else, thought that Henry was a good man for her and that Blue was completely overreacting regarding their union. He barely knew his former brother-in-law; his suspicions regarding the marriage were completely unfounded. By some incredible twist of fate no one saw coming but him, it turned out that Henry really was a jackass. Was it a simple coincidence? Or did Blue have this ability to read people's personnalities with much more accuracy than the average person?

Regardless, the former champion couldn't not side with his friend on this one. What he did to Henry was deserved a hundred times over. A man who cheats on his wife and abandons his family was something he couldn't stand for for very personnal reasons. Blue had just tried to avenge and protect his sister. Granted, it may not have been in the most rationnal, mature and civilized way but who could blame him for that?

Apparently, Daisy could. She might not have realized the state this whole situation was gonna put her brother in but it had clearly been a mistake to get him involved. Her reasons for doing so were still a mystery to the former champion but it didn't really matter at this point. Red had witnessed the most violent and painful family conflict he had ever seen. Blue was not a very sensitive guy except for a few very specific subjects. He would have gotten over the whole thing relatively quickly had his sister not flat out turned against him at the most crucial moment. But that was not even the worst thing. It was how she had accused him of ruining her whole life for having had to take care of him after the death of their parents; a situation he couldn't possibly be held responsible for and one that had changed the course of his life and hurt him most of all. It was the cruelest thing his sister could have said to him.

Daisy's wish to be free of the responsability of her rambunctious little brother was understandable but it was absolutely unfair to blame him for it, considering that he had only been five when they were both orphaned. Sure, Daisy may not have meant it, in her burst of anger and emotionally stressful situation but Red had a feeling it wouldn't matter to Blue, now. His sister had turned against him despite his wish to protect her. She had hurt him and broke his heart. He would no doubt take it like a betrayal…. And Blue didn't take betrayal very well. He was not a forgiving person and once his trust was lost, it was lost for good.

* * *

After a week and a half with absolutely zero news, Red (and his mom) started to worry. Just how far could Blue go to exorcise a pain of this magnitude? Concerned for his well-being and faithful to his self-imposed duty to be supportive to his friend, the former champion decided that at least a visit to the gym was in order.

Professor Oak apparently caught wind of his plan because the troubled old man came by their house not long before the time of his intended departure. Margaret let him in as Red was just finishing his breakfast.

It was Red's first time really seeing the old man in over six years. Samuel Oak had always looked good despite his age. He had good posture, a well groomed appearance and he used to walk with confidence and ease. He never gave off an impression of fragility like many elders did. Now nearing his 70th year of life, the patriarch looked a lot frailer than he used to. His movements were slow and careful, his back was slightly hunched over, his wrinkles had gotten deeper and his hair had completely lost its color. Sure, 69 wasn't that old; many people were still active and lively in their 70's but dear old professor Oak might have aged before his time. He was a man who had suffered many losses and had carried a lot of great responsibilities, having gotten very little appreciation for it.

The pokémon professor gladly accepted the seat Margaret offered him and sat down.

"Red, my boy, how are you doing?" he asked, smiling brightly to drive the attention away from his tormented eyes. "Oh, right… I really shouldn't be calling you that anymore. You're all grown-up, now. I'm sorry. I just don't see the time fly by."

Ever silent, Red simply nodded, indicating that no offense had been taken. "How old does that make you? Twenty… Twenty one? I feel like it was just yesterday that you came by my lab and left it with a charmander and a pokédex…"

Red didn't interupt the man's reminiscing. They both knew he didn't come here for small talk; the former champion just patiently waited for him to stop dancing around it.

"Red… You wouldn't happen to know where Blue is, do you?" he asked hesitantly. A few steps away from them, Margaret stopped doing what she was doing to pay close attention to what was being said.

Sympathetic to the old man's worries, Red shook his head. Samuel looked down at his shoes pitifully. "I was just wondering, since you two are good friends, now."

"Red is going to try and find him, today," Margaret interjected, exchanging a look with her son. "Blue probably really needs a friend right now." Samuel nodded in agreement.

"I think he needs a whole lot more than friends," he let out. "I wish I could talk to him. There's a lot that needs to be said. I've been trying to get a hold of him for years but he won't talk to me. He's always moving around too, so it's hard for me to catch up. I know he probably doesn't want to talk to me but I must at least try. If you would, let me know where I can find him. We really need to have a discussion, especially after what happened last week."

Red could only empathize with the researcher's plight, however his request yet again put him in a delicate situation with his missing friend. Blue had made it clear he didn't want his grandfather in his life anymore and he would most likely not take it very well to have him show up on his doorstep because of him.

"I'm not sure it's a good idea, sir," the brunette said, ignoring the disapproving look his mother shot him. "I think he knows what he did wrong and Daisy made him pay fot it. He does't need another lecture."

"You may be right but I don't want to lecture him, Red. He's an adult now. He can deal with the consequences of his actions. You have to understand. I'm getting old. My family is torn apart and I wish to at least try to right some wrongs before it's too late for me."

Red kept silent for a moment. Though he was still unconvinced that this was a good idea, he could definetly respect Samuel's wish to make peace with his grandson, although it was possibly already too late for that.

* * *

Starting his search at the Viridian City gym was the obvious first step to finding his friend. That was as far as he needed to go, for his Espeon confirmed his presence in the upper levels of the building; where his apartment was. The finding part was cleared with relative ease; now came the more complicated task of dealing with his most likely very upset former rival.

Red simply walked up the flight of stairs that took him to the second floor and knocked on the door to Blue's living quarters, bracing himself for whatever was gonna happen.

"Go away! There's no challenger today! And if the League complains about it again, tell them to go fucking die!"

The fact that the gym leader was in a foul mood was certainly no surprise. What was worrying was the way he talked to who he probably thought was one of his trainees, his voice muffled behind the door. He sounded tired and impatient but it was specifically how slurred and uneven his speech was that let Red know that something was off.

"It's me, Blue," the former champion announced calmly. He heard some shuffling around inside the apartment as well as an unintelligible string of what was probably curses. It took a moment before he got a reply.

"Go away, Red. I don't need you here to babysit me."

If Blue was great at something, it was being stubborn. However, he always seemed to forget that Red himself had gotten pretty good at it, too.

"Have you been drinking?" he asked sternly.

The gym leader probably thought, in his altered state, that he hid it well enough to fool him but to Red, it was quite obvious since he was no better liar drunk than sober.

Blue didn't usually drink except during social gatherings and celebrations. In such occasions, he never went overboard since he tended to fall asleep before he got to the point of getting sick. The former champion never guessed that his friend would drink to ease his suffering but then again, this was the first time he was seeing his friend in real emotionnal distress since he became old enough to drink. It was a dangerous coping mechanism.

"Leave me alone," he tried pathetically to shoo him away. His impatience was gone and replaced by a shame he would surely have hidden better had he been sober.

"Look," Red interjected calmly. "I didn't come here to lecture you. My mom's worried sick about you. I just wanted to check on you. You've been gone without a trace for a week and a half."

Red very deliberately avoided mentionning professor Oak. Blue certainly was the type to hide away when he was distressed so he could save face and maintain his tough image. Not even after all these years of being friends did the gym leader ever allow him to see him in such a state. It wasn't out of lack of trust. It was because Blue couldn't even tolerate his own moments of weakness. How exhausting did it have to be to maintain this facade even through the lowest points of his life?

Since he got zero cooperation from his intoxicated friend, Red pulled out the spare key for the apartment he kept from the period he was Blue's roommate and unlocked the door.

The apartment was mostly dark, with all the curtains pulled. Nothing seemed really out of place. That was until he spotted the owner sitting on the kitchen floor, a half-empty bottle of wine loosely clutched between his fingers and another empty-looking one lying a few centimeters away from him.

It really was quite a pathetic sight to see the one they called Iron Oak slumped on the floor, dark circles under his eyes, his hair flat and unkept and a slight stubble as the last damning piece of evidence of his self-negligent attitude. Barefoot and wearing just a black tank top and sweatpants, it was obvious he hadn't gone out into the world for a while.

Blue tried to glare at his friend to get him to leave him alone but he quickly averted his gaze away when Red held it without being the least bit intimidated. Uncharacteristically quick to give up, the gym leader lowered his eyes to the floor, head hung low in shame. He looked exhausted and miserable, so much so that Red decided to hold his reproaches for the moment.

Sighing, Red slowly sat down next to his friend, at least wanting to let him know he was here for him. Blue avoided looking at him, looking like he was struggling to stay awake. Red had nothing to say. Blue had a million things that needed to come out that he'd been holding back forever.

"Can you believe it, Red?" the blonde trainer eventually let out. I thought I had a family. A sister at least. But then, I learn that she just wanted to get rid of me all along."

Red listened sympathetically, not oblivious to the fact that it was the first time his friend opened up about his family; no doubt because of the alcohol.

"I just…" Blue's throat constricted painfully, interrupting his sentence momentarily. "Tell me," he suddenly exclaimed, staring at Red dead in the eyes with something akin to desperation. "Tell me what is wrong with me!? Why did my sister turn against me? Why does my family hate me? It has to be me who's the problem. Tell me what is wrong with me!"

Red honestly had no answer to give him. Sure, Blue was far from perfect but nothing he ever did was bad enough to deserve this treatment from his sister. Even if there was a chance Daisy's husband wouldn't have left her if he hadn't knocked him out cold but would she really have been better off staying with him?

It just became obvious now, just how not-himself Blue was at the moment. He who always refused to live for someone else's approval was desperately trying to understand why his family had rejected him. The alcohol having gotten rid of his filter, it all came out just how much it was hurting him. Red had no answer to give him and Blue quickly understood it.

"I'm done," he said, taking a large chug of his wine. Red was tempted to stop him but reacted a second too late. "I tried to do the right thing. I tried to be a good brother and protect her and all it got me was a slap to the face and the revelation that she always resented me for not being able to take care of myself when I was fucking five!" Blue was getting worked up again. "I never wanted this. I never wanted to lose my parents. I didn't ask for this! I couldn't do anything. I was just a kid!"

The gym leader looked to be just about to burst out crying but somehow, he held back. He tried to raise the bottle to his lips again but Red gently but firmly grabbed his wrist to stop him. The gym leader just gave a pathetic sigh and obeyed his silent order.

"Tell me, Red," Blue said again wearily, staring off into nothingness. "Where did I go wrong?"

The brunette took a moment to think about what he was gonna say. Sure, Blue had caused some damage to his relashionship with his sibling by basically ditching her on her wedding day, which was something he knew he regretted but this mistake could be forgiven morally since he turned out to be right about Henry. Red had an intuition that the problem was much more deep-rooted than that.

Daisy seemed to resent her little brother for having complicated her social life significantly which resulted in her growing up very unhappy. But of course, at only five, Blue literally didn't have a choice but to rely on her to take care of him. It really was the death of their parents, it seemed, that tore the family apart and forced everyone into a situation they didn't wish for. The difference was, Blue never actually blamed anyone for his misfortune. He had grown up into who he needed to be to survive, which was not someone everyone was capable of dealing with.

"I don't know what to tell you, Blue," the former champion replied. "You've messed things up a couple times, sure, but Daisy had no right to say something like that."

Even knowing he had the support of his friend did little to comfort Blue in his depressed state.

"Red, why did your dad abandon you?" he asked out of nowhere.

Red raised an eyebrow. He didn't expect the conversation to take this direction. It seemed as though the gym leader was trying to make sense of the reasons for his own abandonment by likening it to his.

"I never really knew for sure," he explained patiently, not really eager to dive back into his painful childhood memories. "It's not like he left a note to explain himself."

Interestingly, despite the fact that he looked to be on the verge of passing out because of the alcohol intake, Blue seemed to be making a real effort to concentrate on what he was saying. "From what my mom told me, I think he just wanted none of the responsabilities of a father. And I guess his fear of commiting to a family was stronger than the love he had for my mom and I. If ever there was love in the first place."

It took a while before Blue's foggy mind reacted with a small nod. Their situations were really quite different. Red had grown up for most of his life without a father figure but he had been lucky enough to have a very loving and dedicated mom to help him pull through and not grow up a bitter man. Blue's family was destroyed by an unfortunate twist of fate which had created a chain of events that led him to where he was now, drinking his pain away in his apartment.

Blue grimaced with pain and bitterness and it just occurred to Red now, how unwell he looked. He was feverish-looking.

The gym leader let his head hang low and sighed tiredly.

"I remember when I was just a kid. My parents used to take us to the beach south of town. Daisy and I would compete to see who could build the tallest sand castle. I could never win because Daisy was six years my senior. So then, my dad would come in to help me. Then my mom would go help Daisy. And we would build enormous sand castles like that until the sun set."

The former champion was respectfully quiet, silently shocked to hear his friend even mention his parents for the first time in all the years he had known him.

"It's one of the last things I remember from them before..." Blue's throat constricted painfully and he didn't finish his sentence. He didn't have to. Red knew what happened next. The blonde trainer took a second to get a hold of his emotions.

"I got nobody but you, Red," he then said.

The former champion blinked. There was no way this conversation would be taking place if his friend hadn't downed a bottle and a half of wine. Neither of them really allowed themselves to voice this kind of sentiment. Their brotherly bond was strong; it didn't need to be explained with words yet Red couldn't deny that it meant a lot to him to hear that, even though he didn't exactly feel good about it. It seemed to be the sad reality for his friend. He really had no one else in the world. Seeing his friend demolished and lonely like this only strenghtened his resolution to honor this friendship they had.

"I'm not going anywhere," he assured him despite knowing Blue would probably remember none of the exchange tomorrow. There was still no doubt for him that he was sincere.

"What happened to your hand?" Red then asked, finally noticing his friend's left hand which was bandaged up. Blue's expression grew sour.

"I cut myself on the motherfucker's teeth and it got infected."

"Shouldn't you see a doctor for that?" Red asked worriedly,

"I already have. I'm supposed to take these antibiotics twice a day or whatever."

Antibiotics and alcohol... Red was no pharmacist but it couldn't be a good mix. "Blue, you need to take it easy on the wine there. You're really gonna make yourself sick."

"Like anyone cares," he snorted bitterly going for another gulp of his wine.

Red snatched the bottle away this time, ignoring his friend's protests and stood up, emptying the remains of the wine in the sink. The former champion then firmly grabbed a hold of Blue's uninjured hand and forcefully pulled him to his feet. The gym leader unsurprisingly stumbled and Red had to grab him by the shoulders to keep him from falling face first on the ceramic floor.

"Goddamnit Blue, are you stupid? Alcohol and medication? Get a hold of yourself!"

Blue just shook his head, unable to keep his balance by himself, pitifully looking down at his feet. This whole thing had visibly affected him on a very deep emotionnal level. This depressed, drunken version of his friend was a far cry from his usually proud, arrogant and strong self.

Still holding on to him, Red proceeded to walk Blue to his room and sat him down on his bed. The gym leader was still avoiding his gaze.

"Where is your medication?" Red asked.

Blue simply answered by lazily gesturing to the bathroom door. The brunette went in and quickly found the pills, looking at the prescription printed on the bottle. Blue was supposed to take one pill in the morning and one before he went to bed. It was only around six pm. It would probably be the better option to give it to him now, since he would probably be passed out until morning and would be difficult to wake up. There was a warning on the bottle not to drink alcohol while using this medication. The brunette didn't know what could happen if this rule was broken but he had a feeling he would find out soon enough. What's worse, Blue's dismissive attitude towards his medication hinted to the possibility that he didn't take them as dutifully as he should which would mean he was at a real risk of having the infection spread. The former champion promised to himself that if Blue's health worsened over the next 24h, he would take him to the hospital.

Red walked back into the room with a glass of water and one pill. Blue hadn't moved from his spot and looked like he was falling asleep sitting up. The brunette shoved the glass in his face to jolt him awake and handed him over the pill which he took without protest along with a gulp of water.

"You need to get some sleep, now," Red instructed like a parent, taking the glass back. "I'll be on the couch."

Blue just let himself collapse on the covers and passed out. Red left the room and sat down on the living room couch.

Strange how, many years ago, it was him who had hit his very lowest point and collapsed under the weight of his own suffering in this very room. Blue had been there, trying to get him back on his feet, literally risking his life in the process. Red had sworn to make it his duty to return the favor. If it meant nursing his drunken depressed betrayed self back to health, then so be it.

* * *

 _This chapter didn't even exist in my original plan for this story. You wouldn't believe how much I added on the fly during the writing of this story. I might actually go back and add a few scenes and details to the previous chapters when this story is done._

 _Me? Cynical about love? Noooo... Never..._

 _I may be. This whole story is an exploration of different types of love; just not the romantic couple kind of love. I believe friendship is just as powerful, and usually much more durable than romantic love. Yet, it's so rarely put at the center stage in mainstream media it's a real shame because there's a lot to be said about that. Friendship can survive many things and give a meaning to a life of hardships._

 _What I want to convey in this story is that love, all types of love, can destroy you as much as it can make you. Maybe it's very cynical of me but as someone who has lived and witnessed a lot of drama in real life, I have yet to be proven wrong._

 _And now for the more educational part of this AN, human bites (which is what Blue was accidentally inflicted by punching a guy in the face) are more common than one might think and believe or not, they are more dangerous than a dog or cat bite (provided the animal wasn't rabid). The human mouth contains more dangerous bacteria than our pets' and infection can easily result from a human bite. Any infection can be lethal if left untreated._

 _Antibiotics are used to kill bacteria which are responsible for any infection. They must be taken at the earliest sign of infection and the prescription must be followed by the letter. If not, the infection might worsen, leading to a bunch of undesirable complications (such as amputation or death). Alcohol and medication is never a good mix. Some types of antibiotics might lose their effectiveness when mixed with alcohol. Some other types of antibiotics can make you VERY sick if mixed with alcohol, or can even possibly kill you if the alcohol intake is done very quickly (such as with shooters)._


	23. Helping hand

_Warning: Language and slightly gross imagery (nothing too bad)_

* * *

 **Chapter 23: Helping hand**

Late during the night, Red heard movement coming from his friend's room. The brunette had spent a good portion of the night watching TV in order to stay awake in case Blue needed his help. He snoozed a couple times but as soon as he heard the shuffling, he was wide wake. Red hastily made his way to his friend's room and walked in through the open door.

He found the gym leader scrunched up in fetal position on his bed. Was he having a nightmare? His back was turned to him but he could see that he was most definetly not sleeping. He was groaning, trying to curl up into a ball as tightly as possible.

Red made his way around the bed and he saw that Blue's face was scrunched up in what appeared to be serious pain. From the dim light from the hallway that shone into the room, Red could see that the gym leader was glistening with sweat. He was burning with fever yet he was shaking violently like he was dangerously cold.

"Blue…" Red called, lightly shaking his shoulder. "Blue!" he tried again much louder when he got no reaction. His friend took so long to respond, he was getting worried.

Blue eventually opened his bloodshot eyes to look up at him pitifully. He only seemed half aware of what was going on. When he spoke, it was with much difficulty. "I-I don't… feel... feel so good…"

"What's wrong?" the brunette asked, hesitating whether to call 911 or not.

"I'm gonna be s-" The gym leader interrupted himself halfway through.

"What?"

"I'm gonna be sick!"

To Red's surprise, his friend sprung to his feet and clumsily ran to the bathroom. Before he even had a chance to react, Red heard the gym leader fall down and violently retch.

Running in after him, Red found Blue kneeling in front of the toilet, somehow not having hurt himself in his semi-fall, vomiting with such force that his whole body bent when the urge to retch would hit.

Still not quite having sobered up yet, the blonde trainer had a real hard time staying upright, especially with how he was shaking so hard it looked like he was convulsing. Red knelt down next to him to prevent him from falling and potentially hitting his head.

The former champion couldn't help but wince at how painful the whole thing looked. Blue was groaning in between each retch, heaving like he just ran a marathon with a backpack full of bricks, visibly struggling to find even a second to breathe in.

This couldn't just be the hangover. Sure, Blue had been drunk but not _that_ drunk. This was too sudden; too violent. The fever, the shaking, the visible pain and convulsions… Were those the consequences of the infected wound or perhaps the mix of alcohol and medication? Or both? Red thought that he really should call an ambulance at this point but his phone was still in the living room and he didn't just want to leave Blue in there alone to get it.

The gym leader just completely emptied what little his stomach contained and spent a whole lot of time spewing up bile. After a while, nothing even came out anymore, leaving him dry heaving yet still struggling with the urge to vomit. It was difficult to tell how long they stayed in there but Red guessed it must have been around an hour before the nausea had calmed down enough for Blue to breathe almost normally.

Eventually, Blue's nausea disappeared and he sat back, leaning against the wall, catching his breath. The storm had passed, it seemed.

Blue was still exhausted and sleepy so Red helped him stand up to take him back to his room. The gym leader lied back down, still visibly unwell but at least relatively stable.

"Geez, Blue. Don't scare me like that!" Red lightly reproached, allowing his heartbeat to slow down to a normal rate.

He got no response from his friend, who was still shivering and sweating. Red noticed his bandaged hand again, wondering if the infected wound underneath was to blame for what just happened.

The gym leader was too depressed and intoxicated to bother taking care of himself at the moment. From what Red could see, his friend had spent a week and a half drinking his problems away while his wound remained neglected. Obviously, Blue hadn't taken his medication with as much diligence as he should have; probably skipping a few in his drunken state, which had quite possibly caused the infection to get worse and make him sick and feverish.

Red threw a glance at the nearby alarm clock. It was 2 :37 am at the moment. He figured he could let his friend finish his night but promised himself to take Blue to a doctor in the morning to check up on him and his wound; even if he had to drag him there.

Blue actually woke up a few more times during the night, getting sick again even though he had nothing left to throw up. It would pass after a few minutes and he would fall right back asleep but it forced Red to stay on his toes and to get up at a moment's notice.

* * *

When Blue woke up the next morning, he immediately regretted it. Try as he might, he couldn't manage to sink back into the dark abyss from which he had emerged. Even through his closed eyelids, the daylight that filtered through the windows burned his retinas. His head hurt so much it felt like someone was trying to crack his skull open with a sledgehammer to the rythm of his heartbeat. His clothes were sticking to his body. He felt like a hot, disgusting mess. He could feel the excessive heat radiating off of his body. He had this horrible feeling that the slightest movement would upset his stomach. He felt so weak, he was unsure whether he would be able to sit up.

That was not even mentionning the white hot pain his left hand was making him feel. He could tell from the way the bandages had tightened around it that it had swollen even more. It hurt so badly he could barely even move his fingers anymore.

Incapable of going back to sleep and yet refusing to get up, Blue just waited in his bed, wishing he were someone else at the moment.

"You're going to see a doctor today," said the familiar serious voice of Red Papenbrook.

Though the words were spoken at a perfectly normal volume, it made Blue's head pound like he never experienced before. It was like someone was banging cymbals together right next to his ear. The gym leader curled up in a ball.

"Can you keep it down?" he muttered quietly, too tired to even sound mad.

"You need to take a shower and get dressed. The appointment is in an hour," Red continued, completely dismissing his plea.

It took some work but the former champion eventually managed to get him out of bed, shoving him in the bathroom where he took a much needed shower, carefully avoiding putting his left hand under the hot water. The experience helped a bit calm his headache and the feeling of being clean again was refreshing. It didn't really help with his apparent fever and the pain in his hand though. Blue even managed to shave off the damn stubble without cutting up his whole face. After getting into fresh clean clothes; a white button down shirt and a pair of tan pants; he figured he could at least pass as a normal human being, instead of a braindead zombie. He didn't bother styling his hair like he usually did, just leaving it naturally flat and boring. Looking good was not a priority when he was feeling this awful.

When he stepped into the kitchen where Red was waiting, the latter threw him a scolding look, crossing his arms.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

Rubbing his pounding head, Blue willed himself to stay upright despite his immense fatigue.

"No way," he responded, the mere thought of food making him nauseated.

"Good. Then take this, (Red unexpectedly threw him the plastic bottle containing his antibiotics which he somehow managed to catch) and this, (he then threw him his keys and his wallet, both of which hit him right on the forehead and fell to the floor, instantly sending his headache to fuck-my-life levels) and go see the doctor, dumbass!"

If looks could kill, Red would have died twenty times over from the glare Blue darted at him, holding his head with one hand and picking up his keys and wallet with the other. _I swear, if I wasn't experiencing the worst hangover ever right now, I would feed you your stupid cap, and it wouldn't be by the mouth..._

* * *

Blue tried to walk back into his gym when the brightness and sound from the outside assaulted his senses, making his skull feel like it was splitting open. Red blocked his way back inside, standing in the doorway, almost as if to say: 'You wanted to be a neglectful idiot, you pay for it now.' The gym leader could see past his stoic face how he was mocking him inwardly.

So Blue found himself with no other choice but to walk to his doctor's appointment. As he did everything in his power to look normal and walk like a normal person, his head and his hand were torturing him, his knees threatened to buck under his weight and his fever-induced weakness made every step a challenge. His foggy brain wouldn't concentrate on anything. His eyes wouldn't focus. He hoped to whatever deity was out there that no one would come talk to him or snap a picture of him for everyone to see the next day in those stupid gossipy magazines,which only seemed to exist to catch gym leaders and other celebrities in unflattering moments.

The doctor's clinic wasn't even two kilometers away but it seemed to take forever to get there. When he finally did, he let himself slump into the chair in the doctor's office. When the labcoat wearing gray-haired man joined him in the room, clipboard in hand, he was unpleasantly reminded of his grandfather.

The gym leader quickly went over the greetings, wishing to get it over with as soon as possible. They had already seen eachother just a few days ago, after all.

"How is your hand?" the doctor asked with professionnal seriousness.

"Hurts," he muttered reluctantly. "It got worse."

"We're gonna have a look at it."

The doctor laid a paper sheet on the stainless steel table and had him extend his arm on it. Putting on sterile latex gloves, the doctor then carefully proceeded to cut his bandages open with metal scissors while Blue watched him intently, resisting the urge to pull away whenever the instrument so much as brushed his skin. When the bandages were pulled away, Blue wished he had looked away.

He started to feel sick again upon seeing the wound. His whole hand was red like it was burnt and swollen so badly he couldn't even bend his fingers anymore. The wound itself looked like a jagged steak knife cut and had been torn open wider by the swelling. It was filled with pus, which had begun oozing around his hand upon being exposed to open air. Not only was it disgusting to look at, the stench alone was enough to trigger his nausea. Like a train wreck, Blue was unable to tear his eyes away from it despite how horrible it was. The only thing that could go through his brain at the moment was : _I can't believe I'm going to lose my hand because of that fucking wuss' teeth._

The doctor furrowed his brow. "I bet it does hurt," he commented, following up on his last statement. "We're gonna have to clean that up."

The doctor proceeded to pour some antiseptic solution on his injury, lightly swabbing it with a sterile cloth while Blue winced at the slightest contact.

"Have you been taking your medication as instructed?" came the inevitable question.

Even though he knew it was stupid to hide things from his doctor, Blue didn't want to answer any questions regarding his motivation for drinking himself into oblivion. He couldn't lie to save his life so he would have to simply withhold information and hope for the best.

"I might have missed a few," he admitted, slowly coming to the realization that Red had been right to call him a dumbass. _Stupid Red. He's getting way too insightful._

"Well then, look no further for the reason why the infection got this bad."

"I'm not gonna lose my hand, am I?" the gym leader asked, real fear showing on his tired face. He couldn't get his left hand amputated!  
"We haven't gotten to that point yet, but you absolutely must take them all as instructed."

And then, Blue found out he had a 38.6 degree fever because of his body trying to fight off the infection. Luckily, the doctor spared him the scolding but prescribed an ointment to put on his cut to help the treatment and some pain killers. His hand was rolled up in fresh bandages again. After a few more minutes of talking about his health, Blue was able to leave, prescription in hand, to buy his new medication and go home.

* * *

Blue didn't know if he should have been surprised to find Red still in his apartment, casually sleeping with his Pikachu on his stomach, but he sighed in annoyance anyway, waking him up. He felt like shit. He just wanted to lie down and be alone so he could hate his life in peace.

"I can't believe you haven't evolved that thing yet," he threw at him, hoping that by being unpleasant, he would get the peace he so desperately needed. Unfortunately, after putting up with him literally his whole life, Red had gotten so good at shrugging off his moodiness it was like he had the soundproof ability.

"How did it go?" the brunette asked casually. Blue had to roll his eyes.

"My hand is killing me, my head is killing me, I have a 39 degree fever and I have even more of these fucking pills to take." It actualy felt good to let out a bit of steam.

"Maybe it wouldn't have gotten so bad if you hadn't spent a week and a half getting wasted."

"Yeah, I should have run off to some ice mountain to mope for three years. I'm sure that would have helped."

Blue regretted the words as soon as they came out, recognizing that they were totally uncalled for considering his friend had gone out of his way to help him. He looked away guiltily, not voicing his apology but making it clear anyway. Red's look was stern but he didn't respond to the insult.

"Look, I just need to be alone right now," he explained, hoping to end the conversation.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Red replied.

"What?"

"You don't remember what happened last night, do you?" the former champion inquired.

"Urgh, I don't even remember the last three days," Blue groaned impatiently.

"No, I figured you wouldn't," his friend snorted. "You spent hours vomiting your guts out you were so sick. I thought you were gonna die for a second." The gym leader raised one of his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Well, I'm fine now, am I?" he said dismissively.

"No, you're not. I wish you would remember all the things you said yesterday. At least drunk you stop with that tough guy act." Despite the calmness of his tone, Blue could tell Red was growing impatient. Why? "We've been friends for years and known eachother forever. You can cut the crap and admit that you're not okay, for once."

The gym leader just stared at him angrily, not at all appreciative of the speech he was being given.

"You're sick and injured and you mix alcohol and medication. How can I possibly trust you on your own, right now? If I hadn't been there last night, your trainees would probably have found you dead from chocking on your own vomit. What a glorious end that would have been for the great Iron Oak."

Blue didn't know what to reply. He couldn't exactly deny anything since he didn't remember last night's events but even in the unlikely possibility that Red was making it all up, the horrible scenario he just described was just a little too plausible for his taste. _What the hell is wrong with me?_

"Blue, this motherfucker is not worth you destroying yourself!" Red exclaimed. "Neither is Daisy. All the things I saw and heard from you yesterday... that is not you. That is not the friend I've been travelling with for almost eight years who makes fun of hikers a hundred pounds heavier than he is, who sends trainers home crying to their moms because they got their asses handed to them by the gym leader, who has tamed the most vicious gyarados I've ever seen and who is the whole reason I'm still alive, right now! You're better than the pathetic drunk slumped on the kitchen floor I saw yesterday. So get back up and be worthy of being my rival again."

The blonde trainer kept silent, remembering how he had said something like that many years ago when he had taken Red to the hospital for his psychotic depression.

Up until now, he had been too drunk to think about the physical and mental pain he was in. That was the whole point. But now, sobered up, the whole reason he was in this state hit him like a truck. Again. The whole argument, the beat up, the scar he had to show for it, his sister's harsh words; it all came back and it was almost too much to bear. He knew he shouldn't drink to try to forget about it but he didn't know what else to do to ease his suffering.

Red was probably the only person in the world who would see him in such distress, if what he said happened yesterday was to be believed. So, he figured, to hell with the facade.

"How am I supposed to get over something like that?" he sighed loudly, not really expecting an answer.

"Just give it time. It's gonna get better, you'll see. In the meantime, I would prefer not to leave you alone in here. My mom says you're always welcome to stay at our house for a while."

"No!" Blue refused more harshly than necessary. Red raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going back to Pallet Town. Ever!"

"Why?"

"What do you mean, 'why'? Everytime I go there, something horrible happens. It's like a damn curse." The gym leader took a deep breath and calmed down slightly. "I don't have a sister. I don't have a family who wants me there anymore. This is my home now. Viridian City is my home."

It sounded like he was as much trying to convince Red as himself with this. "And I am its gym leader. I got a badge to defend and a bunch of challengers to wreck."

"As you are now, even a bug catcher could beat you," Red snorted, crossing his arms, not buying his tough act at all. And he knew that remark was gonna hit right where he wanted it to; right in the ego.

"What!? Say that again, I dare you!"

"Prove me wrong then," the former champion challenged.

Maybe a good battle would help him snap out of it. He was fairly certain his friend would take on a challenge from him even if he was on fire and had a pack of houndour chewing on his leg.

To his surprise and worry, Blue actually backed down, looking away. "I'm not really in the mood for a battle," he said, his previous fire completely extinguished, somehow. That was just another way for him to say he wasn't _well_ enough for a battle.

Anyone other than Red would have interpreted it as an excuse to get out of a battle he couldn't win, but Red knew it was his way of admitting he really wasn't okay and, ultimately, he'd rather have that than have him push himself too hard to pointlessly try to win a fight while his health was more compromised than it ever was.

Red looked down at his injured hand and then back at his feverish, depressed face.

"Why don't you just take a break? Go to bed and sleep all you need. You're sick. You need to rest. That doesn't make you a weakling. You're just a human being. You know your pokémon can only fight well if your mind is sharp. I'll wake you up when its time to take your meds."

"Urgh, fine," the gym leader surrendered, running his uninjured hand over his face. "But if you tell anyone about any of this, I'll kill you."

"Sure," Red snickered, knowing not to take his threat seriously but understanding his wish to keep his difficult situation a secret.

* * *

 _Red is such a mommy..._

 _Don't mix alcohol and medication, kids._

 _Okay, I realize not a whole lot happens in this chapter but it's one of those transitionnal chapters than bridge two different story arcs. It was necessary. Besides, I'm pretty sure you've figured by now that this isn't an action/adventure story and is more akin to a psychological drama._

 _It just always bothered me when people write about a character getting sick, or injured, or going through some difficult times and they just instantly recover in a matter of a few paragraphs. I like a bit more realism to my drama._

 _As always, reviews are always appreciated, and suggestions too. There will be a big action scene soon. A a truckload of drama. Hope you're ready for it!_

 _Btw, a 38.6 celcius fever = 101,48 farenheint. That's one hell of a fever.  
_


	24. Protect yourself at all times

_Guys, many thanks to you fo reviewing! NoLife-sama, TetrisEffect, SebatadeS, TheSilverHunt3r, Maddog631 and G. You guys all rock and I can't wait to hear from you again! Hope you like this one!_

 _Warnings: Language and feels_

* * *

 **Chapter 24: Protect yourself at all times**

It took a good two weeks for Blue to become well enough to reopen the gym. He had spent most of that time sleeping; as the battle against the infection sapped all of his energy. It went well overall, despite the occasionnal fever-induced nightmare and the pain of his injury. He had taken all of his medication as instructed and slowly but surely, the swelling had gone down and the pain diminished. As his hand progressively went back to looking normal, the cut had stopped oozing and smelling and began to actually heal. It would leave a scar forever but he didn't mind; he would wear his I-punched-my-sister's-ex-husband-in-the-face scar with pride. Physically, his state wasn't quite perfect yet, but it was more than enough for him to kick some challenger ass. He decided he had moped around long enough and that it was high time for him to live up to the name his adoring fans refered to him with.

Still, the reason he had even gone through this mess was not forgotten by any means and Blue had done everything in his power not to think about it, knowing it would do him no good. This was why he had concentrated with way more seriousness than he usually did on catching up on his paperwork and also been training intensively with his pokémon. They were all happy to see their trainer alive and well and were eager to battle again. There were 22 challengers on the list and the whole city was waiting eagerly for their idol to crawl out of his cave.

Blue had made sure to prepare perfectly for this; like it was his very first battle as a gym leader. He had taken a shower to make sure he was perfectly clean, he had brushed and flossed his teeth, shaved that five o'clock shadow, styled his vibrant orange hair meticulously, put on his finest leather jacket and jeans and a badass looking pair of boots. His moonstone pendant was hung around his neck as his final, characteristic touch. Blue had opted to wear black fingerless gloves in order to conceal his not-quite-healed-yet injury. No one was going to see that before it scarred.

Standing behind the set of double doors that would take him to the battlefield, Blue took a moment to close his eyes and breathe, doing a little bit of mental preparation for what was his first battle in months. _Don't think about it... Just think about the opponent in front of you. Focus. I will win this battle. Just like I won every other._

On the other side of those doors, no doubt a huge crowd was waiting for him to make his entrance. They came to see Iron Oak defend their honor. No one would see the inner turmoil. No one would know what happened in his chaotic life lately. All they would see is the front he had become an expert at maintaining. That was all there was gonna be.

When he walked into the arena, it was with his head held high and his signature smirk for the world to see. Just as expected, the large room was full of spectators and their cheering grew fantastically enthusiastic when they saw him again. The gym leader kept his eyes staring dead ahead, where all six of his sidekicks were aligned, like him, waiting for the first challenger to step up. Nothing could distract him; nothing could break his focus.

Blue took his place on his elevated platform, watching as the first challenger walked up to his first sidekick. All throughout the fight, while everyone else was watching the battle, he inexplicably felt like someone was watching him. Not just a random face in the crowd. Someone who was very deliberately staring at him, as if waiting to be noticed.

As the first challenger got to his fifth battle, Blue broke his rule and ran his gaze across the rows of spectators. Nothing unusual on the right, nothing on the left... What was going on? Blue shook off the feeling. Maybe it was just his imagination. _Focus_.

Minutes turned into hours as the gym leader eliminated challenger after challenger. Half of them didn't even make it past his trainees so he and his team had a chance to rest. All the while, in the back of his mind, he still felt like he was being watched. It wasn't threatening or anything the like, but it was still strange.

After fourteen challengers, all of which bit the dust one way or another, Blue only had to finish off the last trainer's Fearow. Quite an easy task. The guy's pokémon were nowhere near high-level enough to stand a chance against his. He could have chosen an easy finish for the flying type by sending out his jolteon but instead, he decided to finish a good day's work with his Blastoise, a crowd favorite.

The bulky water type's hydro pump missed its mark the first time, which made the fearow trainer much too confident he had a chance. Hydro pump was powerful but difficult to aim, especially at a flying bird constantly moving around. So Blue decided to be mean and crush the guy's hopes and dreams. "Blastoise, ice beam!"

Just a second later, the fearow was frozen solid, falling helplessly on the ground. The crowd chanted their gym leader's nickname to celebrate his expected victory. Blue smiled, satisfied with his performance in spite of all the things he had gone through lately. Again, he ran his gaze across the many faces in the bleachers but this time, someone caught his attention. A old man, sitting quietly amongst the agitated crowd, staring back at him with a discreet smile. Blue did not smile back. So, that was why he felt like someone was staring at him all this time.

* * *

"That was a fantastic battle, Blue," the forcefully cheerful voice of his grandfather stopped him as he was about to exit the battlefield.

The crowd had left, so had the trainees and then no one remained in the arena but the gym leader and, to his irritation, Samuel Oak, too.

Standing with his back to him in the doorway, the gym leader debated whether he should slam the door in his face, as his first impulse dictated, or at least show a little bit of respect for his elder, even though he _really_ didn't like him.

Maybe it was because he was tired of arguing, maybe it was because he subconsciously figured out that acting rashly had done him more harm than good but he opted not to just leave without saying a word.

"What do you want?" he asked icily, turning around, not buying that he had come to his gym for the first time ever for small talk.

His cold demeanor dampered Samuel's enthusiasm ever so slightly, though he tried not to let it show.

"You've come so far as a trainer in all these years," he tried again. "Especially with my old Squirtle... Toughest Blastoise there is, I'm sure."

Blue just stared at him, wondering what game he was playing at. This out-of-nowhere praise definetly smelled fishy, especially since his grandfather never was one to compliment him for any reason.

"Anything else? Because, I'm busy." As he was just about to turn away and shut the door, the old man interrupted him again.

"Come on, Blue. You're not exactly being fair."

The gym leader felt an old familiar anger starting to manifest itself deep within; something wildly disproportionned compared to the actual irritant but made excessively powerful by memories deeply ingrained in his psyche.

"Why did you _really_ come here?" he asked with a calm but stern tone.

Samuel sighed, visibly wary of not having been able to ease them both into the difficult subject.

"All right. We need to talk. Not fight, but talk. I haven't seen you in seven years. There's a lot of things I have to tell you."

"And what good is that gonna do, gramps?" the youngest Oak exclaimed. "Whenever we talk, it never goes anywhere; it never solves anything. I already know everything you could possibly tell me, because it's always the same. I was wrong, I should learn to control my temper, it's my fault our family's going to hell, blah blah blah, I don't know why we still pretend like it's gonna get better!"

The gym leader was getting agitated but it was as much out of exasperation than out of anger. He had just barely begun to heal from the stab in the back he had gotten from his sister and there came his grandfather, throwing his precarious equilibrium into chaos. He felt like he was standing on the edge of a cliff, desperately trying to get away from the bottomless pit but having someone constantly pushing him closer and closer towards it. He didn't want to delve back into this whole thing. Not again.

"You've already made your position on the matter clear," he attempted to cut the conversation short. "I don't need to hear it again."

"No, Blue, listen! It's nothing like that," Samuel interjected. "I judged too fast." The young trainer raised a skeptical eyebrow at the unexpected admission. "You have to understand. I just walked out of the house and Henry was unconscious on the ground and you had blood on your fist (as he was finishing his sentence, his eyes drifted towards Blue's injured hand which the latter promptly tucked in his pocket, as if he feared Samuel could see through his glove). That's all I knew at that point. You could have just punched him because you hated him, for all I knew. I had no idea about the baby or about the cheating. And since you _do_ have a temper and an ego, I assumed the worst. But I was wrong. I apologize."

"You what?"

Blue was stunned by what he just heard. He thought his grandfather was the most predictable person ever. He had expected a lecture; a moral lesson and other tauros-shit he couldn't bother with. The last thing he expected was an apology from the old man. It threw him off so badly, he didn't know what to make of this information.

"Ever since this whole mess happened... I have been doing a lot of thinking and-"

"Hold on," Blue cut him off. "Why didn't you side with me after you found out what happened? Even after you knew about it, you told me that I screwed up and that I was gonna regret it. You let this waste of human life get away with what he did! And- you know what? I don't even care anymore. I'm through with you. I'm through with Daisy. I'm done with all of you!"

"Blue, you assaulted him and you're lucky he wasn't seriously injured. Even you have to understand that in these circumstances, I had to oppose you. You can't just go around beating people up even if you think they deserve it."

"I disagree, gramps," the young trainer shot back. "The only real goddamn justice in this world is the one you do for yourself."

"Well, your so-called real justice could have earned you a criminal record or even a stay in prison. Would it have been worth it?"

Blue didn't reply even if he wanted to because, angry as he was, he could still reason that answering 'yes' would be stupid. He forced himself to calm down ever so slightly.

"Henry could have gotten you in real trouble, Blue. There's no doubt that he would have gladly dragged you in court for this. I had to do something. I had to let him get away with it. It was the only way to convince him not to go after you."

Blue couldn't hold back the shock from showing on his face. Had his grandfather... protected him? He didn't want to believe it but unfortunately it all made sense. Samuel was more serious and more assertive now that he had the upper hand.

"I would have told you all about this if you hadn't disappeared afterwards. Like I said, if you had controlled your temper a little better; if you had let me know what was going on before it all flew out of control, I would have fired him and prevented him from ever getting a job in the field again. But well... that didn't happen and Daisy held you responsible for ruining her marriage. Not that I fully agree with her but it can't be helped. At least not yet."

Blue crossed his arms on his chest, leaning against the doorframe, struggling to digest the information. It was easy to understand, really. The difficult part was that it was slowly dawning on him just how badly he had messed up. If he refused to consider the possibility before, it was now mercilessly shoved in his face that he really was responsible for the sorry state his family was in right now. Not only did Henry get away with just a few bruises and broken glasses because of him, but Daisy held him responsible for her husband's departure and for the fact that she had to raise her baby all by herself. What did he get? A destroyed relashionship with his sister and an almost life-threatening injury. The gym leader started to feel a dreadful sensation in the pit of his stomach.

Samuel quielty walked up to him and put out a comforting hand on his shoulder. The old researcher couldn't help but be amazed at how much his grandson had grown. He was actually taller than he was now.

Blue felt the gesture and its intention stir long repressed emotions.

"Don't touch me," he spat, roughly shrugging him off.

Samuel tried to hide his hurt from seeing his son's son pushing him away again. It seemed hopeless, this conflict between them but just a second ago, he saw something in him he never saw before. Last time he had truly talked with his grandson was more than seven years ago. Back then, he had been a hotheaded teenager protesting vehemently against his sister's engagement, seemingly unable to control his temper or admit his faults. Now standing before him a fully grown man, he was recognizing his mistakes and felt guilty from them. What's more, he had made friends with the one who used to be his sworn ennemy and had even saved his life. Empathy, humility and self-control. All things he thought his grandson had lost the capacity to feel after being orphaned but had begun reemerging in his more mature adult self.

Blue had changed and Samuel was just beginning to see that. Seeing him now, he looked so much like his son it almost hurt. The youngest Oak had grown up into a handsome, intelligent young man and many tales of his incredible talent as a trainer and his formidable strenght had earned him that nickname... Blue had started to show from a very young age; as soon as he started talking, actually; that he was wickedly smart and unstoppable when he put his mind into something. He had just barely begun to walk that he already tried to run across the grassy fields of Pallet Town, his mom chasing after him before he got too far. He could have been anything; he had all the tools to become the best. If only the death of his parents hadn't turned him into a dangerous mix of frustration, insecurity and mistrust. Samuel had watched him grow more and more rebellious, afraid that his grandson would turn to a bad life; drugs, gangs and crime were just some of the many pitfalls today's youth had to avoid growing up. Luckily, Blue was equally smart as he was difficult to influence. He didn't get caught in these sorts of traps and gave all of his time and energy into perfecting his skills as a trainer, and then as a gym leader.

Allan had met his untimely death at just 32 years of age and now that Blue was nearing this age, he was starting to resemble his dad so much it was like he was back from the dead. However, the father and the son were very different on the inside.

One thing that hadn't changed, though, was the profound resentment his grandson had for him. It would take more than a helping hand in a dire situation for Blue to forgive him.

"Everybody makes mistakes, Blue," he attempted to lessen his apparent anxiety. "You just gotta learn from them. As for Daisy... if you just give it time, I'm sure she'll come aroud."

"I don't care," the youngest Oak unexpectedly said.

"What?" Samuel asked, utterly confused.

"Daisy's glad I'm not around anymore," Blue explained, bitterness oozing from every word. "It turns out she always hated me for existing so, really, I'm done trying. And good riddance!"

"I don't understand!"

"Just ask her if you wanna know." As much as Blue was angry, sadness was slowly seeping through his mask. "I tried to do a good thing for her because she asked me to, but she decided she prefered a lying cheating bastard who wanted to abandon her to her own brother. So, there, I'm not even gonna bother anymore. And I'll be better off. I'm just glad I know the truth, now."

Samuel was without words. He couldn't believe Daisy would tell her own brother he was the reason she had grown-up unhappy. No wonder he didn't try to talk things through with her. As a matter of fact, he was giving up on her entirely.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it," he tried, immediately seeing his grandson didn't agree with him at all.

"I think you'd better leave, now," Blue said, turning away again. "And don't come back. Ever."

"Blue, please," he stopped him again. "You know I care about you very much (he didn't notice his grandson freeze completely). I just want you to tell me what I have to do, so we can make peace, you and I."

" _No_ ," he flat out refused. Samuel gasped.

"Why?" Blue's reply was uttered with such coldness, he felt the chills run through his spine.

"I don't believe you."

That was certainly not the answer he expected. "What do you m-"

"You've been ignoring me, criticizing everything I do and even when I became the damn champion of the Indigo League, you wouldn't even look at me! Do you seriously think I forgot what you told me after I came back to Pallet, huh!?"

Samuel looked at the floor guiltily. "You never gave a fuck about me!" Blue confronted him. "And now, just like that, you want to make friends with me!?"

The gym leader was walking closer and closer to him, a fury Samuel absolutely did not expect burning inside of him. The researcher actually took a few steps back, instinctively. His grandson seemed to notice it and stopped, lowering his tone.

"I have a life of my own," he started again with more calm. "You can stop pretending like you care, now. You don't really want to make peace with me. You just want to ease your conscience."

There was a long moment of silence as Samuel struggled to figure out what to say to that. Things were even worse than he thought. His grandson really, truly hated him. He wanted to cut him out of his life. All of his family.

Blue just wanted to bury the past, now, but it kept resurfacing and haunting him. Samuel was beginning to realize that he might have condemned his grandson to a life of loneliness and insecurity by being unjustifyingly hard on him. Things he now regretted saying had been said in the kitchen in Pallet Town, all these years ago; things Samuel hoped Blue would forget but he didn't.

It may have been a mistake to keep him with him growing up. He should have been raised in a foster family. He would have had parents to love him, then. He had made a grave mistake and he was paying for it.

"Is it true that you saved Red's life?" the pokémon professor suddenly asked. Blue let out a growl, displeased that the conversation was still going. He didn't think his grandfather knew about that. He and Red had an unspoken agreement not to talk about this dark episode to anyone. Why would the idiot talk about this with his grandfather?

"I really don't see what this had to do with anything." Samuel sighed with a sad smile.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why did you run off like that?"

"Because!" the youngest Oak shouted. "I don't do things so people will like me! I don't do nice things to try to _look_ like a good person, unlike you."

The patriarch took the harsh critic very hard but chose not to respond to it. Blue saw his elder look at him with a strange sadness he did not expect.

"I'm beginning to realize I've been lookin at you the wrong way all along..."

Blue tried his hardest to keep his angry scowl up but the long repressed emotions resurfaced after years of being held back and for the first time since losing his title, he felt the burning sting of tears in his eyes. After everything life had thrown at him lately, this was just too much. There was no way he was gonna let that happen, especially in front of that old man. Not trusting himself to talk at this point, the gym leader did the only other thing he could. He turned away. But before he could make his escape, Samuel gently turned him around and took him into his arms.

He remained completely frozen, unable to think, unable to move. All he could do was stand still, holding back an avalanche of emotions behind ever crumbling walls. He wanted to tell him to let go; so he wouldn't be subjected to all this emotionnal distress but he was completely paralyzed. A long time ago, he would have done anything to get something like this from his grandfather. Now, though, it hurt more than any injury or illness he ever had to endure. It was forcing him to look back at a time he so desperately wanted to forget; a time when he resentend the whole world for not giving him a loving home.

"You know, seeing you now, all grown-up..." Samuel smiled with nostalgia against the young trainer's shoulder, still holding on to him. "You look so much like your father. You know, he was very smart, just like you, and he was also always so very serious. He was barely eight and he tried acting more grown-up than the grown-ups. He was a little shy but very wise. But you know who you resemble the most?"

His grandson refused to answer but Samuel went on anyway. "You're just like your mother. Before Allan brought her home for the first time, I never would have believed he would chose a woman like her. She came from a dysfunctionnal family and she had lived on her own since she was 13. I heard she was quite the playground bully in her day, She beat up girls and boys alike when they pissed her off. She was a karate black belt later, too. You would have to wonder how two people who were so different could ever become husband and wife and have two kids. But they brought the best out of eachother. That fire you have... you definetly got it from her."

Samuel felt his grandson shake and held him tighter, remembering the time he had held a crying little five year old boy after telling him his parents would never come back.

Blue had his arms firmly glued to his sides but just the fact that he wasn't pulling away was a tiny glimmer of hope for Samuel that maybe... maybe it wasn't too late. It wouldn't happen overnight, for sure, but maybe they could work things out one day. He could tell his grandson was progressively crumbling but he pretended not to notice, knowing how much it would hurt his pride. How he regretted not showing him just how much he cared.

Only when Blue calmed down and his shivering subsided did Samuel let go of him. The youngest Oak was looking away from him, avoiding to meet his eyes as much as he could.

"You and I have a lot we need to work on," the professor said to his emotionnal grandson. Blue was silent for a long moment. "I don't know about that..." he mumbled, visibly reluctant.

Blue wasn't sure he wanted to make peace with his grandfather. He didn't truly believe it would be possible to forgive him after all that had been said and done.

He'd been perfectly happy on the road; no family, no attachments, no one but his best friend and his pokémon and nothing but the future and its endless possibilities in front of him. In his six years of absence, he'd hoped his grandfather had forgotten about him. He didn't want to dive back into this whole mess. Sure, a part of him appreciated the effort Samuel was trying to make but it was far outweighed by doubt, by sorrow, by anger, by mistrust...

He couldn't talk. He couldn't stay here. He couldn't accept.

"I have to go," was all he managed to say, slipping away as far as possible from the old man and escaping to the upper level of the building. For every step he took towards the top of the stairs, he felt the gaze of his grandfather following the back of his head.

* * *

Try as he might, Blue couldn't find sleep tonight, despite how tired he was from battling all day. So he just sat alone, deep in thought on his couch in absolute silence. The conversation he had with Samuel just a few hours prior was replaying over and over in his head. He was wondering if he had acted the way he should have. Had he been too harsh or, on the contrary, not mean enough? Could he trust his old grandfather when he said he wants to reconcile?

Most people would take pity on the old man and give him his chance; most people didn't know him like he did.

As someone who was never forgiven for his imperfections by anyone except his former rival, there was only so much room in his heart for forgiveness. He wanted it to be true, but deep inside, he couldn't believe it. Whenever the thought of giving him a chance even crossed his mind, that awful scolding he had been given after losing his title, his grandfather turning away from him, leading his then-rival to his moment of glory and then the soul-crushing lecture he had received from him upon his return to Pallet Town all flooded back into his tormented mind and brought any plans of rekindling his relashionship with his grandfather to a screeching halt.

* * *

 _"Some trainer you are! Treating your pokémon like tools! I knew you would lose! You never had a chance against someone like Red!"_

 _Blue was stunned into silence, standing in the kitchen, his infuriated grandfather pacing back and forth in front of him. This had been going on for the last 45 minutes. It was beyond anything the ten years-old trainer had ever seen._

 _He was past the point of being mad back. This had gone beyond a criticizing of his way to train his pokémon. It was a never ending barrage of jabs and kicks to his ego, his pride, his attitude, his way of being... against him._

 _Blue was without words. He could only stand there and take the humiliation, every word stripping him of a little bit of his dignity. And whenever his guardian reproached him something, it always came back to Red. How Red would never have done something like that, how Red always had the perfect attitude and moral compass, how Red was better than him in every way, Red, Red, Red..._

 _"I thought you would learn something from him. You were talented right from the start but you didn't learn anything from your journey. And Red did. Because he wasn't arrogant like you. You deserved to lose that title because you don't have half of what it takes to be a real champion. You don't have heart."_

 _It was becoming too much for Blue and despite his best efforts to maintain what was left of his dignity, he couldn't stop the tears that rolled down his cheeks. His grandfather, however, was unphased by his apparent breakdown._

 _"It was a mistake to give you that squirtle," the onslaught of words continued. "I should have handed you over to a foster family. I was unable to raise you into a decent human being. I should have-"_

 _That was as much as he could take before he turned tail and ran away up into his room. Away from him, away from his words, away from the guardian who never loved him._

* * *

Did he deserve to be forgiven? What if he hurt him again? What then? Blue had a feeling he wouldn't be able to withstand another blow like that. The one rule that had carried him through his difficult childhood and chaotic adolescence seemed like the best course of action to follow. Protect yourself at all times.

* * *

 _Hey remember chapter 5? This is a call back to this chapter. Every scene was put in this story for a reason._

 _Damn, almost the entirety of this chapter was one conversation. But it's a meaningful one. The weird part is, I wrote it in like five different sittings and then I had to piece everything together to make a scene and decided in which order would each paragraph go. I honestly didn't know how I would end it while I was writing it._

 _What do you guys think? Can professor Oak be trusted? Should Blue forgive him?_


	25. Nobody matters like you

_Damn, this was hard to get done in time. But I only have myself to blame. That's because I wrote chapter 26 before I wrote this one. I actually wrote two chapters in one week. I'm a little crazy. I really hope this one doesn't feel rushed..._

 _I re-read the chapter just once because I was in a rush to post it before it got too late. So I might have missed a few mistakes._

 _Warning: Violence and language... You know... the usual._

* * *

 **Chapter 25: Nobody matters like you**

The night was calm in Pallet Town. Red was comfortably lying in his childhood bed, which had become pretty small for his fully grown adult body. Despite this, he was curled up in the covers, sleeping soundly with his old pikachu balled up next to him. The small pokémon, a long-time partner for him, was a familiar presence that always did its job of making him feel safe, no matter where his travels had him camp. The mouse pokémon may have been domesticated and trained as a fighter and a pet, it had lost nothing of its natural instinct and as its kind was in the wilderness, Pikachu was always vigilant; always on the lookout for danger.

The rodent's sharp pointed ears were the reason the former champion, who had been peacefully drifting from one meaningless dream to the other, was awakened from his slumber. His electric mouse began to stir, pawing at his cheek, and it woke him up.

Red opened his eyes to the near total darkness of his room and immediately reached for his bedside lamp to turn it on. The brunette patted the old mouse on the head, silently asking it what was wrong. Pikachu's small black nose twitched and his dark round eyes indicated clear worry. Red's first thought was that his pokémon was feeling sick or perhaps hungry but before had a chance to do anything, he heard footsteps coming from the hallway and he instantly knew it wasn't his mom. The sound was much too heavy, like the sound of boots; a far cry from Margaret's light shuffle. There was someone in his house.

Red had to think fast about what he was going to do. His first concern was for his mother's safety. She was probably still unsuspectingly asleep. He wished he could warn her without endangering her or himself. He didn't know what the intruder's intentions were but he would absolutely not assume they were only there to steal the valuables. Pallet Town was one of the safest, most quiet settlement in all of Kanto. With such a small population and barely any tourism and circulation, crime was extremely uncommon. This was the first time in his life Red didn't feel safe in his hometown.

He hastily jumped out of his bed, wearing only his boxers and an old oversized shirt. His Pikachu stood up, his golden fur standing on end, ready to spring into action. The trainer flattened himself against the wall, next to the door, listening to the suspicious sounds, trying to get an idea of where the danger was and how many people he was dealing with. He counted at least two people coming from the stairs and nearing his room.

The former champion waited, standing next to the doorframe, to see if one would try to get in. He heard some muffled talking and then the doorknob was turned in a way that was meant to be stealthy. Red waited patiently, like a sniper waiting for the perfect shot, his heart pumping adrenaline through his system. The door was discreetely pushed open. The split second the brunette saw a foot step inside his room, he voiced his command:

"Pikachu, flash!"

The former champion covered his eyes with his arm in preparation for what was going to follow and the electric type obeyed flawlessly, emitting a blinding white flash which illuminated the entire room as brightly as would a lighting bolt. The effect was immediate and it worked just as well as Red expected. The intruder, which was revealed to be male, groaned painfully, his hand covering his eyes, temporarily blinded. He was all dressed in black and Red swore the uniform-like ensemble was familiar.

Red wasted no time pondering about where he has seen something like that before and kicked the guy in the stomach with all his might. The man had the wind knocked out of him and grabbed his abused midsection, still unable to comprehend what was going on. The former champion simply pushed his incapacitated foe to the floor and, despite his struggling, kept him pinned down with all 73kg of him.

For a second, he looked at the man who was lying on his stomach, still unable to open his eyes, to see if he recognized him. The face was not familiar at all but again, the all black get-up was. Where had he seen that before?

The brunette reminded himself that there was one more ennemy lurking around the corner, if not two or more. Though it wasn't in his habits to use such a dirty move, Red grabbed the man by the hair and smashed his head into the floor, knocking him out instantly. In an emergency situation such as this, he could forgive himself for doing something like that.

Red got up and risked a careful look outside of his room, in the hallway and he saw not one, but two intruders headed his way; one male and one female. As soon as their eyes met, they started running towards him, brandishing what the brunette soon identified as stun rods, crackling with electricity. Again, he was certain he had seen those before...

Red positionned himself in the middle of the hallway, blocking the way to his mother's bedroom, eyeing the intruders warily as his Pikachu joined his side. There was a second of silence during which everyone stared at eachother and then, the female spoke:

"Do you think he's the one?" she asked her accomplice with an evil smile.

"He could be," the male replied, advancing threateningly towards the young trainer. "He fits the description, all right."

Red took a step back, worried and also very confused. What description? What where they talking about? These people were looking for him? Or someone _like_ him? One thing was for sure. Judging by the way they stared at him like poachers would look at a rare pokémon caught in a snare, they weren't interested in the valuables.

"Red?" came the worried voice of Margaret from behind the door or her room.

"Mom, don't come out!" he warned. "There are intruders in the house. I'll take care of it. Call the police!"

"What's going on!?" Red could feel she was just about the exit her room.

"Don't!" he ordered urgently, watching his two ennemies carefully in case they made a move. "Just do as I say!"

He hoped she would listen to him. He didn't want her to jump in to try to save him and get in harm's way. In moments such as these, using his pokémon would have been the best option. Unfortunately, he had limited use of his team in such tight quarters. Most of his pokémon were too big and had moves that could destroy the house completely. His pikachu was old; he had retired him from competitive battling years ago and while he still had no doubt the electric mouse still had a lot of volts left in him, he wouldn't want to risk killing his beloved partner. His best option would be his Espeon. The problem was, he had left his pokéballs in his room and he would not be able to get back in there without getting in range for a stun. He was gonna have to handle this with just his old Pikachu and himself.

"Get him!" the female shouted.

The male swung his crackling rod at Red which he managed to narrowly dodge. The man immediately tried to hit him again and this time, he didn't have enough space to avoid it and the tip of the baton brushed his midsection. It was enough to send an unpleasant electric current in his whole body and give him a painful muscle spasm.

Operating on pure survival instinct, Red grabbed the man's arm as he was getting ready to swing again, stopping him dead in his tracks and then immediately slid behind him where he couldn't be hit, snaking his other arm around his neck and pulling them both towards the wall. Red promptly pushed behind the man's knees with his foot, forcing him to kneel down. The former champion then put the same foot in the middle of the man's back and pushed against it, while still holding the arm that held the stun rod, putting a very painful strain on his shoulder and elbow. The intruder refused to let go of his weapon for a few seconds but Red continued to pull and twist his arm, threatening to dislocate his elbow and eventually, a sickening crushing sound resounded and the stun rod fell to the floor. The man fell down on the floor, groaning in pain, clutching his elbow which was bent in an unnatural way.

Meanwhile, Pikachu was keeping the female intruder busy by biting, tackling and giving the occasionnal electric shock. The woman tried to hit it with her rod but the quick little mouse kept slipping away, frustrating her more and more.

"Red!?"

The young trainer saw his mother standing in the hallway in her nightgown, visibly shaken to see her son fighting off strangers in the middle of the night.

"Mom, stay back!" he pleaded, grabbing the man's stun rod.

The former champion delivered a merciless blow to the face of the man with his own weapon, flooring him instantly, watching him convulse at his feet for a moment.

As much as Red was usually the pacifist in most situations, it was a little known fact how brutal he could be when pushed to the limits of his tolerance. The young man was well known and appreciated for his gentleness, his calm and for the fact that he always opted for the non-violent option if he was given a choice. He wasn't all that big, but he was strong enough to do some serious damage if he wanted to. Since he wasn't prone to anger, seeing Red Papenbrook fight with his actual fists was a rare sight. Just because he didn't readily resort to violence to solve his problems didn't mean he couldn't put up a fight. If Red was defined by one thing, it was how faithful he was to his friends and family and anyone who attempted to harm them would pay. No one was going to lay a hand on his mother. Not if he had anything to say about it. And he was willing to break arms and skulls to protect her if he had to. He saw it as his duty as her only son.

They were interrupted by a growl of frustration from the female intruder, who got sick of Pikachu getting in her way. She contained her anger just long enough to aim properly and swung her rod with impressive might, hitting the mouse square in the gut. The electricity wouldn't hurt him but the sheer force of the impact definetly would. The tiny yellow pokémon was sent flying, hitting the wall dully and falling helplessly to the floor.

Red gasped in horror, fearing for his little partner's life.

"Red, what's going on!?" Margaret asked, panicked.

"Shut up, bitch!" the female intruder spat, smiling with satisfaction at the successful knock out she just performed. She raised her weapon again, fully intending to strike her target with it. Red didn't even take a step back. Enough was enough. He was not a fan of hitting women but he would make an exception for this one.

Red took a confident but calculated step forward and swung the rod with the perfect combination of speed and strenght. His opponent mimicked his move but Red had a significant reach advantage over the shorter woman and while her swipe came just short of hitting his chest, Red's longer arm carried his right where he wanted to; right in the ribs.

The effect was immediate and with a loud pained yelp, the woman went down like a rock like her partner, convulsing on the ground. There was a silence for a second, during which Red contemplated his handiwork, telling himself he could calm down, now. But afterwards, he reminded himself that his Pikachu was badly hurt.

The brunette kneeled next to the small creature, inspecting its old, fragile body. _Please don't be dead... Please don't be dead..._

Pikachu was still breathing but it was tightly curled into a ball, visibly in great pain from the terrible blow it received. All traces of his previous brutality gone, Red petted the mouse on the head as gently as he would for a newborn. Margaret was looking over his shoulder at the pokémon, concerned for its well-being as well.

Red promptly got up, heading into his room, quickly putting on a pair of pants, his cap, socks and shoes and tied his pokéball belt to his hip. He quickly went back into the hallway and withdrew his electric mouse into his pokéball where he would be safely in stasis until he got to a pokémon center.

"Red, who are these people?" Margaret demanded firmly, shaken and sick of never getting an answer.

"I don't know, but they're looking for me. We need to get out of here. Did you call the police?"

"Yes."

That was a good thing but Red knew better than to be optimistic. The law was pretty slow to intervene in Pallet Town because it was so uncommon for serious crimes to be comitted there. By the time they got to them, more of these intruders could come and get them. Fleeing to safety was likely the best option. If these people were after him, they would likely not try to harm anyone else. He needed to get his mother somewhere safe, however, since a unscrupulous villain could very well try to use his mother as a hostage to get him to surrender.

"We can't wait for them here," Red said, grabbing his mother's wrist to lead her towards the stairs. "Come on, let's go."

"Wait! Where are we going?"

Red ran down the hallway, keeping her close. He didn't answer because he had no legitimate idea of where would be the best option to run to. The police station? But then the ennemy would likely not attack and just lie in wait for him to come out so they could capture him or his mom. The Oak's house? He didn't want to risk endangering poor old professor Oak by getting him involved. Blue's gym? Blue could definetly provide a good backup and help him deal with these ennemies but Viridian City was still a good hour away on foot and his Charizard couldn't carry the both of them.

In truth, Red was fairly confident he could take on any of these thugs with his pokémon and the space he needed to use them. He wanted to beat them and get them arrested; not allow them to roam free so they could come back at any moment.

"I'm leaving you at the police station," he explained as they descended the stairs towards the front door. "You'll be safe there while I try to get to the bottom of this."

"Don't!" she protested, unsurprinsingly. "It's too dangerous! Let the police handle this!"

Red was just about to reply as he opened the front door but he suddenly felt something hit him in the shoulder with unbelievable force and he cried out in pain reflexively. He heard his mother scream. The former champion felt all of his muscles contract painfully and his whole body became rigid like a plank. Still completely dazed and confused, Red fell face first in the grass, not able to catch himself because none of his muscles obeyed him. It was like he was tied up in ropes. Even after his fall, his muscles kept spasming. What in the world happened?

"Where do you think you're going, mister?" a cruel, blood curling voice called from somewhere behind him. He couldn't see who spoke because he was still face down in the grass, unable to move.

Someone grabbed him by the hair and forcefully pulled his disabled body into a kneeling position. The person who had hit him with one of those accursed stun rods and who was currently holding him at his mercy was a huge, terrifying giant of a man. He must have been two meters tall and weighed 130kg. Like his accomplices, he was all dressed in black. His face was the stuff of nighmares. Yellow crooked teeth, an enormous scar disfiguring the entire left half of his face and evil eyes filled with a sick pleasure of seeing him in pain.

Red resisted his instinctive fear response and glared at the giant man, progressively feeling the control of his muscles coming back to him.

The former champion threw a quick punch, aiming for his gut (he couldn't reach any higher than that on such a tall opponent while he was on his knees), hoping to get him to let go of his hair. He quickly understood it didn't work when his knuckles hit a rock hard surface; possibly a body armor, hidden under his clothing. The man laughed at his pathetic attempt, sadistically happy to be given an excuse to strike again. He hit Red once more between the shoulder blades with his stun rod and the latter cried out in pain again as his body stiffened, convulsing from the force of the electric shock.

 _Damn it... If only I could reach my pokéballs..._

"Get away from my son!" he heard his mother roar.

The small woman ran towards the behemoth of a man, valliantly punching and kicking at him with all her might, barely making him flinch. The man snickered at her attempt for a moment while still holding Red captive but he eventually got sick of being assaulted by a woman a third of his weight and inflicted a vicious backhanded punch right in her face, which instantly knocked her down in the grass.

Red felt his blood freeze in his veins at the sight of his beloved mother being absused by a man before his very eyes and fury took hold of him. He tried with everything he had to break free of the paralysis but the second shock seemed to have sapped his strenght.

"Won't the boss be happy to see you!" the monstrous stranger snickered into his ear.

The man tied his rod to his belt and grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms to his sides. He lifted him up with ease, their height difference leaving Red with his legs dangling uselessly in the air. He felt panick threaten to overcome him as the man dragged him away towards a black van that was parked in a shaded spot near the house while his mother was still trying to get back up on her feet.

"No!"

"Red!"

The brunette tried to struggle with all his might but nothing even came close to loosen the man's grip on him.

"Get away from my son, you **dick**!"

Margaret got up, blood dripping from a cut on her cheekbone and charged the cruel man who was holding her son with all the rage of a kangaskhan fighting to protect her baby. She tore the man's rod from his belt and hit him with all her strenght in the back. The effect was immediate an the man stiffened from the shock, unintentionnally squeezing Red as a bewear would. Margaret did not stop there. She hit him again and again until he fell on his knees, unable to fight back. Eventually, Red managed to free himself and he wobbled a few feet away from the intruder, still not having regained full control of his muscles.

He watched with absolute fascination and respect his mother beat a man twice her size with fury he'd never seen in her before, until he crumbled to the ground, smoke emanating from his body. Then, and only then, did Margaret calm down and let go of the rod, breathing heavily, her hair a mess. Red was in complete awe. His mother; his soft spoken, peaceful, sweet and gentle mother had just braved a great danger to save him. Mother and son exchanged an equally surprised look for a second.

Red got up, and Margaret ran up to him, taking him into his arms, shivering and suddenly overtaken by emotion. Red returned her embrace and held her tightly, simply happy that they were both okay, his own emotions and fear from losing her constricting his throat.

"I'm so glad you're okay!", Margaret sobbed in his shoulder. "My sweet little Red..."

Red just nodded, holding her much smaller frame. He never though his mother could unleash such badassery on anyone but he was glad and proud that she did. He knew without a trace of doubt that she would gladly lay down her life for him and it made him love her even more, she who had overcome her husband's abandonment and had raised him all by herself.

"I love you..." she cried.

"I love you, too..." he answered.

When she pulled away, the former champion saw that she had a clearly visible bruise and cut on her cheek from where she had been hit.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

"It took me 36 hours to push you out without an epidural, Red. A punch to the face is nothing compared to that." Margaret laughed to relieve some of the stress and Red laughed after her, surprised to hear her talk so bluntly.

The moment was interrupted when the police sirens resounded in the distance. Red was reminded of the situation they were in and he walked over to the collapsed body of the man who had almost succeeded in kidnapping him. He wanted to know who these people were and why they tried to take him away.

He walked over to the large man, who clearly wasn't getting back up anytime soon and searched his pockets for clues. He eventually found a cellphone. He browsed through it in order to find anything interesting and he eventually happened upon a series of texts that were sent from a contact simply labeled 'boss'. What he read made his heart skip a beat.

 _One of them is in Pallet Town. The other is in Viridian City. One of these kids has the beast. Capture them both and we'll get the location from the one who has it. Kill the other._

The beast... Could it be... There was only one thing this text could be refering to. Mewtwo! Then that meant that the people who had come after him were... Team Rocket!?

It couldn't be! The evil band of criminals was disbanded years ago after he had defeated their boss at his gym over a decade ago! But the evidence was right there in his face. Team Rocket had returned and they wanted their monster back.

But then... Red read the message again. 'One of them is in Pallet Town... The other is in Viridian City...' They knew that a young trainer from Pallet Town had been in possession of the dangerous psychic pokémon. They had come after him. The other one... was Blue!

The realization of just how serious the situation was hit him like a truck. They didn't know which one of them had Mewtwo; they only knew it was a young trainer from Pallet Town. It was not surprising Team Rocket would confuse them with eachother. They were both the same age, from the same village, had both battled Giovanni and won and had both become the champions of the League. Giovanni knew for a fact that one of them had his monster but either he didn't know if it was him or Blue that had it, or he mistook Blue for him. Regardless, this was a terrible situation. They would no doubt go after his friend and when they found out he didn't know where Mewtwo was... _Kill the other..._

Blue was in grave danger!

Red pulled out his own cellphone and tried to call his friend, hoping he would respond despite the late hour. After what felt like an eternity of waiting, he got no answer. _Shit_! Red tried to call the number for Blue's office just in case, but for some reason it immediately told him there was no service. This was not a good sign...

"What's going on?" Margaret asked him, seeing the worry in his face.

"I have to go," Red said, picking Charizard's pokéball from his belt and releasing the fire dragon. In the distance, he could see the police cars nearing their house. His mother would be safe in his absence.

"Why?"

"I don't have time to explain! Blue's in danger! These people are gonna go after him, too!"

He hopped on his Charizard's back. "Stay with the police until I come back!"

With that, Red flew up with his pokémon at full speed north... Towards Viridian City. It could already be too late. He had to make it there before his friend got killed!

* * *

 _Sound like Margaret has seen Aliens! (cookie if you get the reference)_

 _Moms are the best!_

 _EDIT: Oh, I forgot:_

 _2m = 6'7  
_

 _130kg = 300lbs_

 _Also, in case come of you have been wondering... Maddog631 pointed out quite unerstandably that Red's Pikachu, which is one of his strongest pokémon, shouldn't have been taken out that easily but there is a logic behind what I did. First of all, Pikachu in my story is an elderly at this point. Pokémon's lifespans are never really discussed in the game but I think that it would be logical to base ourselves on the real world. Real world mice only live for two years on average. Now, we know Pikachu can live for more than two years but I don't think it can live as long as a human can. A lifespan of about 12-13 years made sense to me, though I know some of you may disagree._

 _If any of you have ever had an elderly pet, you will know that a very old animal is much fragile than their young selves and that they really can't take much abuse. Some old dogs get seriously injured by falling down a couple steps. Also, remember that pikachu is not a fully evolved pokémon and in gen1 it has a very low defense stat (30), so even fully leveled up, it can't take a lot of physical damage. So that's why it happened the way it did in this chapter._

 _Also, if you wonder why Red's Espeon didn't intervene in a dire situation like Blue's Alakazam did in ch. 14, its because in my canon, only pokémon who know the move teleport can let themselves out of their pokéballs! Espeon cannot learn this move._


	26. The fall

_Heed the new rating!_

 _It was gonna happen sooner or later. I have to change the rating to M, now. The reason for that is because the violence, especially in this chapter, is kicked up a notch. Although it's not extreme gore or anything, I prefer to be safe. But that's not the only reason the rating is changing. I will go into more detail in the next few chapters so you guys have a better idea what to expect, but the story following this chapter will get **very very dark** , more than anything you've read so far. It will deal with very difficult and potentially even controversial subjects, so the rating is a warning that people who lack the maturity to deal with difficult subjects and are easily offended should steer clear. _

_It's probably not as bad as I make it sound but I'd rather warn you._

 _I've had a few suggestions lately but unfortunately, I'm gonna have to refuse including them for one specific reason. We are nearing the final arc of this story and from this point on, it's firmly set on tracks, which means there is pretty much no room to slip in more material. But I still want to thank you for reviewing and I appreciate your interest I this story. Sorry to disappoint you._

 _Warnings: violence and language_

* * *

 **Chapter 26: The fall**

Blue sighed tiredly when he opened the door to his office, not in the slightest eager to deal with the mountain of paperwork that was still waiting for him after his long time off. It was 11pm and he had trouble finding sleep so he figured he might as well get up and use his time for something more useful than tossing and turning. The gym leader walked over to his chair dressed simply in a light blue shirt and black pants. He looked out pensively out the window on his right for a moment, trying to convince himself that he was not procrastinating.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a deep, unfamiliar voice coming from somewhere behind him: "Imagine my surprise..." the unknown owner of the masculine voice said with a distinctive nonchalance. Blue quickly spun around and immediately spotted the man standing in the doorway at the other side of the room, his heart beating fast from being startled out of his thoughts. The gym was supposed to be empty. He did not expect a visitor. "...when I found out that the person who took over my gym was that little brat from Pallet Town who won my Earth Badge," the intruder finished, sliding his hands into the pockets of his expensive-looking black suit.

Blue's hand instinctively went to his pokéball belt. The last part of that sentence had immediately clarified who he had in front of him. The former owner of the Viridian City gym, Giovanni, a man Blue now knew used to also be the boss of Team Rocket thanks to Red. Except Team Rocket was supposed to have been disbanded years ago. The wanted criminal was apparently completely fine with being recognized upfront, as evidenced by the blood red 'R' insignia sown on his blazer, which was a thing Blue was positive was not a good sign.

Blue had only seen him once over eleven years ago, when he had challenged him for his Earth Badge and had become the first one to beat his ground type pokémon in years. He remembered him only vaguely yet he recognized his looks and mannerism instantly. Just like all the pictures he had seen of the crook in the newspaper, Giovanni still had his impeccably combed short hair (although it was visibly greying), his perfectly ironed suit, his pale, boogeyman-like face and his confident, arrogant smirk that was not unlike Blue's own. There had been a lot of rumors lately about the return of the supposedly disbanded criminal organisation but Blue just had it confirmed right now in front of him that it was true. Whatever brought Giovanni to sneak into his office, it couldn't be good. And he probably wasn't alone.

"Get out of my office," Blue ordered coldly, running his index finger over Blastoise's pokéball, ready to send him into action at the first sign of a threat.

The blonde trainer furrowed his brow suspiciously when the older man simply snickered without budging. "Now, now," he jeered, "there is no need for such hostility. I have only come to get back what is rightfully mine."

 _He thinks I'm Red_ , Blue realized. His friend had told him all about his altercation with Team Rocket as well as his discovery that the mysterious psychic pokémon that was hiding away in Cerulean Cave was a genetically engineered killing machine that the criminal organisation had created. Red had beaten Giovanni and his henchmen and the latter had all but vanished for more than a decade. Red had also gone and captured their escaped monster but Blue knew now that he hadn't kept it. The creature was being safely contained in a high security research facility since Red had left his champion position. Now, Team Rocket wanted it back. And they thought _he_ was the one who had it.

It was only natural that they would go after the last person they knew for a fact had been in possession of the powerful pokémon. Or at the very least, the one they thought was the person. Giovanni didn't realize yet that he had come after the wrong guy. The 'brat from Pallet Town' he was looking for wasn't him but it was not surprising he had mistaken him for Red. Though they didn't exactly look alike, Giovanni had only ever seen him once, for the duration of their battle and seen Red twice; all of it over a decade ago. Team Rocket had most likely zeroed-in on him because he was the same age, was from the same hometown as their intended target, was one of the only two to have earned the Earth Badge in a long time and had become a champion afterwards. Their similarities in that aspect were damning and making them easy to mix up to an outsider who knew them as kids only. He wondered if they had found Red and gone after him, yet. Blue wasn't exactly difficult to find. He was a well known public figure now, while Red still maintained a secluded, discreet lifestyle. Though he was fully aware of the potential danger of the situation he was in, Blue figured it would be for the greater good if he kept on making Giovanni believe he was his person of interest for as long as he could. If he could only find a way to contact Red without him noticing...

There weren't many options when it came to dealing with the boss of Team Rocket. Blue took out Blastoise's pokéball and released the bulky shellfish pokémon, letting the crook know he wasn't messing around. There was no way a ground-type specialist would pose a threat to his water pokémon.

"A Blastoise? Interesting..."

"I'm not gonna ask again," the blonde warned in a low threatening voice. Giovanni's smirk diminished ever so slightly. Clearly smarter than his grunts, he knew Blue wasn't to be taken lightly.

"Do you have any idea who you're-"

"Hydro pump!"

Following his master's command with effective speed, Blastoise aimed its canons as the criminal mastermind and lauched its powerful pressurized dual jets of water. The older man barely managed to dive out of the way in time and the attack blew right over over his head, tearing the double doors of the office off their hinges and blowing a huge hole through the concrete walls on the other side. Blue didn't care. The League would pay for that.

It wasn't his intention to kill the Rocket (murder was not really his thing) but Blue wanted to establish clearly just who was in charge of the situation. Sure enough, when Giovanni got up, all traces of his eerie smile were gone. Blue met his glare without a single trace of fear; with his natural bold defiance.

"You can cut the crap, Rocket," Blue spat disdainfully. "I'm not a patient guy." Blastoise growled at the criminal to drive the point across, letting him know he was ready to shoot again at any moment. "You're gonna stay here until the police arrives to arrest you. If you try anything, well, you're gonna make Blastoie's day and mine."

"You are one nasty little runt, are you?" the Team Rocket boss remarked with visible amusement. "You would have made a fine member of my team if only you had taken me up on my offer."

Blue raised a curious eyebrow but quickly dismissed the comment. "You have not idea how nasty I can be, partner. Trust me, I am way more trouble than I'm worth." The gym leader reached for his back pocket to get his cellphone out. His eyes widened with the most unpleasant surprise when he found out his pocket was empty. He checked his other pocket. Nothing. _Shit..._

"Looking for this?" Giovanni taunted, pulling Blue's cellphone, easily recognizable from its distinct metal case, from behind his back, waving it mockingly in front of his face. Blue was astonished.

"How'd you..."

"It was just carelessly left on the coffee table in the living room," he gladly explained, smiling victoriously. "Not very careful, are we? Oh look... (he played around with it, for a while) It seems like a certain friend tried to call you multiple times over the last few minutes. I wonder why..."

 _Red_. Red knew what was going on. If only he could reach him. Or the police. Blue's eyes drifted towards the gym's regular phone resting on his desk. Giovanni seemed to guess his intention before he even made a move.

"Don't bother with this," Giovanni said mysteriously, examining his fingernails with a confidence that Blue immediately disliked. The older man continued when he saw that he had successfully stalled his target's action. "The line's been cut."

Blue growled under his breath thinking about how he was gonna manage the situation. He had apparently walked right into a trap without suspecting it at all. And he was caught like a magikarp, completely unwitting and unprepared. He had nothing except his pokémon. Not even his knife. All of it was left in his apartment.

"What is it that you want?" Blue asked, his jaw clenched in irritation. Next to him, Blastoise growled, ajusting his aim towards the criminal. He already knew the answer but he was stalling him as much as he could.

"Now, we're getting somewhere," Giovanni smiled evilly. "Good boy."

Blue didn't appreciate one bit being adressed like he was some puppy. Giovanni was deliberately provoking him by taking shots at his ego. He was trying to get into his head.

"I have it on good authority that you might be in possession of Team Rocket's property. I was wondering if you would be so kind as to return it to me. All you have to do is to hand it over and nobody has to get hurt."

Still playing along and making him believe he was the one he was looking for, Blue decided to try and earn himself some time to think of a safe way to get out of this situation. There was a good chance Giovanni would be armed. He couldn't act without thinking.

"I have a better idea," Blue sneered, acting more confident than he actually felt. "Why don't you come over here and try to take it?"

Giovanni didn't take the bait and snorted. He casually clicked his fingers and Blue saw four grunts stepping into his office, slowly circling him, brandishing stun rods. They didn't pull out any lethal weapons. They didn't want him dead as long as they didn't get what they wanted. He had to keep making them think he was in possession of Mewtwo, otherwise he might not walk out of there on two feet. The disgruntled gym leader put on his long-practiced tough front, not showing any sign of how increasingly nervous he was. Blastoise stood his ground, too.

He thought he had a decent control on the situation but in a matter of seconds, Giovanni had turned the table on him and got him backed in a corner. Blue felt trapped and he didn't like it one bit. What's more, the boss of Team Rocket currently stood between him and the exit. He had no doubt he could take on Giovanni by himself; in a fistfight or a pokémon battle. He was not afraid of some aging criminal he'd already beaten once before. But this was bad. If they didn't kill him, they would kidnap him for sure. He was outnumbered and had no way of calling for help. He was incredibly lucky to have had his pokéball belt with him at the moment.

Despite his best efforts, Giovanni seemed to know he was nervous and it showed by his widening smile.

"Now, we can do this the easy way, (two of his grunts slowly edged closer, their stun rods crackling with electricity) or we can do this Team Rocket's way."

Blue did the first thing he could think of and grabbed one of his pokéballs, sending out his Alakazam. "Telekinesis!"

The psy pokémon crossed his spoons and sent all the grunts flying back hitting the walls with such force that they were all knocked out. Blue's smile at his small victory was quickly erased when Giovanni sent out a honchkrow and a kangaskhan. He would have asked him to do the same thing to Giovanni himself but now he needed his pokémon to protect him from his. Looks like this was gonna get settled in a pokémon battle.

"Honchkrow, dark pulse! Kangaskhan, outrage!"

"Alakazam, protect! Blastoise, skull bash!"

The psychic pokémon protected itself from the super effective dark-type attack while his partner withdrew his head inside of his shell, to then meet the kangaskhan's furious punches with a devastating headbutt. Blue saw his Blastoise take the beating, barely flinching and manage to land a good hit on the parent pokémon. Blastoise was a highly resilient pokémon. He could take a lot of abuse without fainting. Alakazam, however, was a whole other story. He couldn't withstand a lot of blows, especially from dark types.

The gym leader understood his opponent's strategy after his second wave of commands. Giovanni had figured out that Alakazam was the biggest obstacle to him capturing Blue so he was doing everything in his power to get rid of it by constantly harrassing it with his Honchkrow and its dark type attacks. Blue was forced to keep ordering Alakazam to evade and block while Giovanni was preventing his Blastoise from providing backup by keeping him occupied with kangaskhan. He had to think of a way to get out of this because it would end up blowing up in his face sooner or later. He reminded himself that he was not in a competitive battle and that there were no rules to follow. Blue pulled out his Pidgeot's pokéball, who could surely chase the damn Honchkrow off of his psychic.

Before he could throw it, he saw, through the four battling pokémon, in his peripheral vision, Giovanni pull out a handgun, aiming it directly at him. Blue had no chance to react before the criminal pulled the trigger thrice, sending three bullets straight towards him. Blue could only raise his arms and brace himself, mentally preparing to feel the three high-speed projectiles piercing his flesh but instead, he heard them bouce off something and ricochet off somewhere in the walls. Surprised, he looked around him, trying to figure out what happened.

He saw his Alakazam staring at him. _I won't let him harm you, Master._ The psychic pokémon had protected him with his powers. Blue was just about to thank him but then he saw Giovanni brandishing his gun again. And he fired. He couldn't do anything as his beloved Alakazam, who had saved his life twice now, took a bullet straight to the head, crumbling down like a ragdoll, his spoons clattering on the cement floor. The criminal had succeeded in his plan to distract the pokémon and leaving it vulnerable by attacking his owner.

" **No!** "

While his Blastoise kept fighting off the kangaskhan, Blue kneeled next to his pokémon's lifeless body, stricken by horror. The poor creature he had spent so much time raising from an Abra and training was limp, blood oozing from the hole on his forehead. The rage that submerged the young trainer was so intense his entire being shook and his hands balled up into fists, knuckles turning white.

Honchkrow was withdrawn. Blastoise looked on sadly at his fallen partner.

Giovanni's mocking laugh, echoing through the medium sized room was the breaking point.

" **You fucking bastard!** "

Blue didn't even care if he got shot at this point. He was completely blinded by fury and he charged the boss of Team Rocket like a tauros, hell-bent on making him pay for his crime with his own two fists. Giovanni evidently did not expect such a violent and immediate response. He tried to shoot in his direction two more times, aiming for his legs but in his urgency, he didn't have the time to aim properly and he missed. He did not have the time to get out of the way when Blue tackled him with all of his strenght.

To his surprise, Giovanni managed to keep his balance instead of falling back and the older man opposed his own strenght to his. Blue overpowered him and forced him against the wall behind them, seizing his right wrist, trying to force the gun out of his grip. A bullet was unintentionnally shot into the ceiling during the struggle. Giovanni tried to tear his hand from his grasp his but Blue immediately punished his attempt by kneeing him in the gut. The gym leader proceeded to twist the older man's wrist, hoping to break it. As soon as he felt his grip loosen around the handgun, Giovanni threw it a few feet from them to keep it out of Blue's reach.

The latter didn't even try to go after it and punched the crook in the gut repeatedly, forcing him to bend over in pain. Giovanni endured the beating and grabbed Blue's leg pulling it towards him, completely throwing off his balance. Still, Blue was the type of fighter that saw a good offense as the best defense and instead of trying to free himself, he clung to his ennemy, elbowing the back of his head and hopping back on his one free leg to force him to topple foward. Giovanni reflexively let go of his leg as he was falling to break his fall with his hands and Blue took the opportunity to throw himself at his back.

The blonde trainer squeezed his ennemy's torso between his knees and rained down punches and elbows on the back of his head. Giovanni, flat on his stomach, had no way to defend himself but he tried to crawl away, reaching for the handgun. Blue saw what he intended to do and slid his arm around his neck, grabbing his own bicep with his other arm, catching his ennemy in a brutal rear naked choke, pulling him backwards until Giovanni was back on his knees. Blue let himself fall on his back, locking his legs around Giovanni who fell on top of him. The gym leader had the boss of Team Rocket stuck in a vicious submission and he kept squeezing his throat with his arms, feeling the man start to panic as he struggled uselessly against his arbok-like hold. Blue had no intention to let him go until he ran out of air.

"I'll fucking _kill_ you, you son of a bitch!" he threatened right next to his ear.

He was beyond furious. The more Giovanni struggled, the more he wanted to squash him, like a bug. Long seconds went by and the Rocket's struggling was getting weaker and weaker. Blue had him. He couldn't escape.

Blue was in no position to see when Giovanni reached for something inside of his blazer and he suddenly felt a sharp acute pain in his forearm. He looked down to try and get a view of what the hell happened and he saw a switchblade embedded in his forearm halfway to the hilt. The boss of Team Rocket mercilessly twisted it deeper into his flesh and the pain was so intense Blue had to let go of him.

Unfortunately, that meant that he was lying on his back on the floor and that his ennemy was above him with a knife in his hand. A certain worry for his life dampered Blue's anger momentarily. His right arm was bleeding profusely from the narrow but deep stab wound and he clutched it between his fingers to stop the bleeding. If adrenaline wasn't pumping through his entire body at the moment, it would surely hurt ten times as much. He curled up in a ball, ready to kick his ennemy away. Giovanni didn't try to stab him and instead went for the gun again. Seizing the opportunity that the criminal was giving him by turning his back, Blue grabbed his ankles and tripped him again. Giovanni tried to swing his blade blindly in his general direction but the gym leader managed to evade.

Just as the boss of Team Rocket turned on his back to face him, Blue grabbed his wrist again, this time to force the switchblade out of his grasp and so a trial of strenght began between the two elite trainers.

Giovanni was in his fifties and while he had no doubt a lot of experience in hand to hand combat, being a lifelong criminal and all, Blue had the upper hand, being younger; at the peak of his physical strenght from a lifetime of exercise and training in various martial arts with his Machamp. Or he _would_ have the upper hand, except his dominant arm was seriously injured and dripping with blood. Motivated purely by rage and determination, Blue powered through the pain the physical effort imposed on his arm and he slowly, but surely, managed to turn the blade towards its owner.

Giovanni's eyes widened with panic while his own weapon was slowly inching closer to his throat. He tried with all his might to prevent it from getting any closer to him but he saw the murderous fury the young trainer was glaring at him with, as he pushed down with all of his strenght and weight. _Would you look at that_ , the boss of Team Rocket, thought. The new Viridian City gym leader has a taste for blood. But the crook still had one last move to pull.

The Rocket took the risk of allowing the blade to get closer to his throat and then bit down on Blue's injury. Hard. The blood soaked his mouth but he didn't care. His dirty move had the desired effect and Blue cried out in pain, releasing his hold on the blade and pulling away from him, clutching his badly injured arm. Giovanni quickly got up on his knees.

Blue owed it to his reflexes and nothing else not to have his throat slit as the criminal mastermind swung his blade towards his neck with a speed on par with a scyther, by throwing his upper body back, feeling the sharp weapon pass right above his nose. The gym leader quickly got up and backed away as far as possible from the older man to avoid getting stabbed again. Blue just stood there, a safe distance away from the older man, squeezing his bleeding arm, eyes wide, panting and still under the shock of how close he had come die just a second ago.

Giovanni got up laboriously, casually dusting himself off. The combination of his pale face, his mouth full of blood and the terrifying smile he had on his face made him look like a monster straight out of a horror movie. The criminal cracked his neck a little to recover from the young trainer's choke. He chuckled, which infuriated him even more but Blue didn't dare charge again, seeing as the gun was just a few feet from him.

"Impressive," Giovanni commented, wiping the gym leader's blood from his face with his sleeve. He spat some of it on the floor. "I knew you were a good trainer but I underestimated your hand-to-hand combat skills." The young trainer remained frozen in place, his mind working a thousand miles an hour trying to figure out what to do next. Though he didn't like to think about it, running away started to look more and more like the safest option. He was bleeding pretty badly and he was already feeling himself getting weaker as a result. He wouldn't be able to keep up with the fight for much longer. Behind him, Blastoise was still wrestling with the much bigger kangaskhan, holding his own but not really getting closer to a victory.

"It's a shame..." Giovanni continued, pulling out yet another thing from his pocket. Blue was too far to make out what it was; he just saw that it was small object. "...I don't need you anymore."

He had no time to react. A deafening sound, louder than anything he had ever heard followed by a shockwave similar to that of an earthquake, rattled his whole body. Before he had a chance to understand what was going on, his body was sent flying back what felt like several meters until it crashed unceremoniously against his desk. The force of the impact was so great that the piece of wooden furniture crumbled like cardboard as his body was projected right through it.

Blue felt himself land on the floor behind it and for a split second he thought it was over but then another horrible crashing sound resonated and the whole world around him fell apart and the floor underneath him caved in. Trying to protect himself as best as he could by curling into a ball like a sandshrew, the young trainer felt himself fall... and fall... and fall. And he completely lost track of where he was spacially. It just felt like an eternity of falling.

It all came to an abrupt end when he felt his upper body hit a hard surface. Blue heard a pop and then a sickening crack and he crashed amongst a pile of what was probably debris. He couldn't even scream. All the air in his lungs was ejected by the devastating impact. It was like an eighteen wheeler had just slammed into his back. The back of his head hit the ground and the gym leader instantly blacked out.

* * *

The Viridian City gym was in shambles. The lights were flickering and a cloud of dust floated around. Giovanni snorted, standing on the edge of the gaping hole that was left in the floor, looking down at the level below. It was as silent as a no man's land except for the muffled sound of water pouring out from some burst pipe. The explosives had done a fine job. Too bad he had to sacrifice a few grunts and his kangaskhan for it. None of them really mattered, anyway. The boss of Team Rocket looked around him. No Blastoise in sight. No blonde kid either.

The criminal slowly made his way down to the ground level by way of the still relatively intact staircase on the side of the building that wasn't destroyed. Explosives were always handy in a pinch. It had worked wonders on this enraged boy. The boss of Team Rocket had come dangerously close to getting himself beaten or stabbed to death by the younger trainer. He had done well to plant some explosives in the building while he was setting up his trap. They were a simple and effective way to get rid of evidence. He had calculated just the right spot for him not to be harmed by the detonation. Shooting the boy would have been enough but he knew the barrel of his revolver was empty and he would have had no time to reload before he threw himself at him again; and he would have found himself with an enraged Blastoise to deal with. His kangaskhan could stall it but it was no match for the water type. Blowing the building up was a good way to get rid of the both of them at the same time.

Giovanni was no fool, though. He had no intention of leaving the building before confirming his kill. He had to be quick, though. The sound of the explosion would no doubt attract cops and other undesirables over.

He wanted to see him dead with his own two eyes.

The explosion had all but destroyed the office and blown a huge hole in the floor, through which the trainer and his pokémon had fallen, landing them in the battlefield below, in a sea of debris, twisted pipes, beams and dust. His revolver safely in hand, the crook reached the ground level, scanning for his target among the rubble. He soon spotted him, somewhere in the middle of the remains of the ceiling. Slowly, like a stalking predator, he made his way to his helpless prey.

The boy was lying on his side, completely unmoving, his entire body covered in blood and dust. His body was sprawled on a small stack of broken chunks of the ceiling. He looked dead. He couldn't even see him breathing, but Giovanni wanted to make sure. He walked up the pile of rubble, the boy still giving no reaction whatsoever to his approach, and stopped besides him. His eyes were closed. There was a lot of blood on the back of his head. He had most likely hit it pretty hard; possibly hard enough to kill him, during his fall.

The criminal mastermind put one knee down next to him, a cruel smile adorning his face. He stared down at him and for a few seconds, he saw nothing move, until... He saw a small puff of dust fly up in front of his face. He was still breathing. He was still alive. They didn't call him Iron Oak for nothing, apparently.

The man rolled him on his back and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him towards his face until they were nose to nose. Still, the young trainer was as limp as a ragdoll. He was out cold which wasn't surprising. He had taken a huge impact and fell down an entire floor. The worst of his injuries was probably not even visible.

"What a waste..." Giovanni said in mock-sadness to the defenseless young trainer. "You were a good fighter. You have that killer instinct when you're pushed hard enough. You would have made the perfect second in command. Too bad you decided to oppose me."

The Team Rocket boss was silent for a moment. He knew his prey was completely helpless beneath him so he allowed himself to take his sweet time.

"I remember you, now," he then said, his index finger tilting the boy's head slightly, studying his face. "You're not the one I'm looking for. Your Blastoise gave you away. No... You're that other kid, that arrogant little brat that came just before he did."

Blue gave no response, of course. Giovanni just snorted, letting go of him, watching his shoulders hit the rubble. Pulling out a few bullets from his pocket, he inserted each of them in the cylinder of his revolver and then pulled back the hammer. "Well then, there's no need to keep you alive anymore, is there?"

He brought the muzzle of his fully loaded handgun right under the boy's chin, ready to put him down like a sick old pokémon.

The cruel man grinned victoriously, his finger on the trigger. "I'll make sure to send my condolences to your old man."

* * *

 _Oh my gosh, I'm sorry to end it on a cliffhanger like this. He he he... it would be so easy to make you all wait a month for the next chapter... But I wouldn't do that... Review, damnit! (I'm just kidding)_

 _Unlike many of the plot points in this story, this scene, and what follows, was planned from the start. It was a bold move and I'm actually worried some of you may not like where the story is going after this but well... it can't be helped. And I have a very good reason for doing what I do, regarding the plot of the story as a whole. If you follow along with me, it will all make sense by the end._

 _I couldn't resist putting a badass combat scene in this story. I know it's a pokémon fanfic and you would expect a pokémon battle but whenever I try to write a pokémon battle scene, they end up so long it breaks the rhythm of the story. They're fun to watch and to play, but not so much reading or writing. I haven't see a whole lot of writers managing to make pokémon battles interesting, really. I can only think of two. That's one of the things I liked from the manga. The pokémon battle eachother but the trainers are directly involved in the action, too._

 _I am such a sucker for mixed martial arts, I just had to make Blue fight it out with a villain. He's not quite an expert but he knows a few moves. If you guys are confused as to what a rear naked choke is, just google image search it. It's pretty spectacular. It's almost impossible to escape, except when you cheat, like Giovanni._

 _Giovanni is seriously my favorite pokémon villain. He has the perfect evil style. I realised halfway through this chapter that I made him a little Freddy Krueger-ish. A perfect cold hearted killer who likes to taunt his victims. It was just too perfect to have the former and the current Viridian City gym leader fight._

 _I wanna take a few lines to thank an unnamed Guest for his/her awesome review. I'm glad you found the last chapter very intense and chapter 24 very emotionnal. It means I accomplished my goal! Really, if you write sad stuff and nobody feels anything reading, you fucked up. I can write sad stuff all right, but I've barely ever tried writing action in my life. I have no legit idea if I'm good and if I'm able to convey the intensity. I'm glad you did, Guest. You can tell me if I did in this chapter._

 _Tune in if you want to see what happens after. See you next week... Maybe?_


	27. One survives

_What's wrong? You guys seem a little worried about Blue's fate since last week. I wonder why?_

 _I assure you the title of this chapter is absolutely nothing to worry about._

* * *

 **Chapter 27: One survives**

Broken chunks of concrete, twisted pipes and shattered glass and pieces of furniture lay everywhere. The few neon lights that hadn't been destroyed by the explosion flickered uselessly. A thick cloud of dust floated like fog inside of the building.

It was easy to guess where the explosion originated from. The half of the second floor that was furthest away from the main entrance, where Blue's office used to be, was completely gone, leaving a gaping hole in the back of the building and essentially eliminating the separation between the two levels. The place was eerily silent.

Giovanni brought the muzzle of his fully loaded handgun right under Blue's chin, ready to put him down like a sick old pokémon. A bullet through the skull. The current Viridian City gym leader would go down exactly the same way his Alakazam did.

The cruel man grinned victoriously, his finger on the trigger. "I'll make sure to send my condolences to your old man."

"Don't," a voice interrupted Giovanni firmly just as he was about to pull the trigger on the fallen gym leader. "It's me you're looking for."

Giovanni looked up towards the figure standing a few meters from him. He raised a curious eyebrow. As the dust settled, the newcomer's features became more and more clear. A young man, seemingly in his early 20s, brown hair, dark eyes and a tell-tale red cap. Standing next to him, a large and powerful charizard, the flame on its tail burning fiercely. Casting a quick glance down at the blonde boy he held at gunpoint, Giovanni thought it should have been obvious, in restrospect...

The one who had his Mewtwo wasn't his replacement. It was that very same red-capped kid who had foiled his plans at Silph Co over a decade ago.

"Of course..." Giovanni snickered, keeping the muzzle of his revolver right under Blue's chin. "Of course it would be you. Not that arrogant little brat. That kid... (he glanced down at Blue again for a second or two) This is old Oak's grandson, isn't it? Just as foolish as his old man..."

"Let him go," Red ordered, trying hard to hide his nervousness regarding the very real possibility of his friend getting a bullet through the skull at any second. And that was not even considering the other possibility of getting shot himself. He wanted to protect Blue but Blue was in no position to protect him. "He doesn't know where Mewtwo is. Leave him out of this."

Despite his best efforts to hide it, Giovanni knew how nervous he was and he obviously wouldn't give up his advantage so easily. He had the gun. He had the hostage. He made the conditons.

"I don't think so," Giovanni challenged, giving the fallen gym leader a provocative little backhanded slap in the face. Red's fist clenched. "From where I'm standing, it looks like our little friend here (he backhanded Blue in the face again, harder) is the key to _you_ giving _me_ what I want. What do you think?" he then asked, pushing his gun's muzzle deeper under Blue's jaw.

"If you hurt him, you'll never know where your pokémon is. I'm the only one who knows."

And just like that, the two old ennemies found themselves in an impasse.

Red was getting increasingly anxious and frustrated. He couldn't get a good look at his friend from where he was but he could see he was bleeding profusely and that he was completely unconscious. He didn't so much as stir ever since he landed his Charizard in the tattered remains of the gym. Blue would have tried to defend himself against the criminal, even if just verbally; he wouldn't have taken a slap to the face from him with to reaction. But his friend was lying down, completely unmoving; so much so that Red feared it was already too late. But if it wasn't, they were wasting precious seconds while Blue was in dire need of urgent medical attention. He had to do something, fast.

"If you let him go, I'll take you there. I'll go quietly and you can do whatever you want with me, afterwards." Red had no other choice but to trade his life for Blue's. He had no intention of actually handing Mewtwo over to such an evil man. In Giovanni's hands, there's no telling the destruction this pokémon could wreak on the world. But anything that could get Giovanni's gun pointing at something other than Blue's head, it would be worth eventually getting himself killed for being an uncooperative prisonner.

Giovanni snickered, getting up but still keeping his gun well aimed at the gym leader's head. "Well aren't you an altrustic one? I almost feel bad for you. Are you sure you want to do this? Trading your life for his? That poor bastard..." Giovanni kicked Blue in the face to provoke Red some more. Blue's head snapped to the side, again, with no reaction whatsoever. He was limp... like a corpse. Red had to hold back with every ounce of mental discipline he had not to try and jump in Giovanni's face to make him regret his gesture, and most likely getting filled with lead in the process. "He'd probably be better off dead at this point... Not that it matters to me. But trading places with a soon-to-be corpse... What an equally stupid decision... Well, it looks like you don't have much of a choice, then."

As he was glaring fiercely at his ennemy, Red noticed something moving somewhere behind Giovanni. It was difficult to make out what it was. It seemed to be half buried under the rubble and likely trying to get out from it. It was very far away, partially hidden by the dust and poor lighting offered by the few flickering lights that hung from what remained of the ceiling. What _was_ that?

"It doesn't matter what happens to me," he said, redirecting his attention to Giovanni so as not to arouse his suspicion. "If you let him live, I'll do whatever you want. But you better hurry. The police is coming. As soon as they've secured the building, they'll come bursting in and you will spend the rest of your life behind bars."

None of what he had just said was a lie. Red was trying to earn some time until a solution presented itself to him. Giovanni, however, was or at least looked very unimpressed and refused to budge.

"Or if you want..." Red continued, trying to sound as if he was in control even though he really wasn't. "We can do this the hard way."

Responding to the subtle cue, his Charizard stepped up next to his master, growling fiercely. Giovanni snorted.

"You don't really think you can save your friend with just a charizard, do you?"

The boss of Team Rocket didn't notice Red staring again somewhere over his shoulder. The former champion saw the movement again behind the crook and his friend... and realization suddenly dawned on him.

"Do you wanna see...? What is faster? A flamethrower? ...or a bullet?" The criminal reajusted his aim on Blue's head, a victorious smile deforming his monstrous pale face.

Red didn't answer. His eyes kept darting back and forth between Giovanni and the thing moving behind him. _Wait for it..._

Giovanni was apparently so sure of his victory that he didn't notice. "Actually, I have a better idea..."

Before Red had a chance to react, the evil man raised his gun towards him... And fired. The brunette felt the bullet entering the front of his calf and going right through his leg to exit on the other side. He bent over in uncontrollable pain as his leg gave away and he let himself fall on his backside, clutching his wound. He felt the intense burning sensation as well as the blood slowly starting to soak his pant leg and his fingers.

Next to him, his Charizard roared angrily, flapping his huge wings but he didn't dare move out of fear of his owner getting hurt even worse.

Red clenched his teeth, trying to will the pain away. He should have expected to get hurt during this exchange. The brunette forced himself to open his eyes, still seeing the moving thing behind Giovanni. This is what he wanted... Giovanni's gun was aimed at him and not at Blue. This was now or never.

"Charizard..." he mumbled, laying a calming hand on his fire dragon's leg. Giovanni smiled at what he interpreted as a surrender. " **Hydro pump!** "

" **What!?** "

Giovanni never saw it coming. He never had the opportunity to understand why the former champion would order his charizard to perform a move he couldn't possibly know. He never had the chance to understand why two powerful pressurized jets of water hit him full force, instantly tearing his flesh apart and sending what was left of his body crashing somewhere behind Red, leaving him, his Charizard and Blue safe from his accursed gun.

As the water jets died down, Red gave a grateful nod to Blue's Blastoise who was stuck under heavy pieces of concrete.

The former champion had figured out just in time that his friend's beloved water type was the thing moving behind the boss of Team Rocket. And he had done everything in his power to distract the man from his hostage and to direct his attention on him as much as he could. He had no idea the blonde trainer's pokémon was behind him, still alive and Red had just waited for the perfect opportunity to command to the shellfish pokémon to unleash his vengeance on the man who had hurt his master.

Blastoise's body was buried under heavy pieces of the ceiling and as a result, he had been unable to move but his head and cannons were still free and the water type had been smart enough to stay quiet and to obey the command from the man who wasn't his master. Red wasn't worried about him. Blastoise would be perfectly okay; protected my his massive diamond-hard shell.

No, there was someone who was in much more urgent need of his help...

"Blue!" the former champion called to the unmoving form of his friend.

His brow drenched in sweat from the sting of his injury and his eyes burning from all the dust floating around, Red laboriously got up and, ignoring the bullet hole in his calf, limped over to Blue as fast as he could, barely minding the risk of getting hurt even more with all the sharp points and pieces that stuck out everywhere. _Please, don't be dead..._

Red sped up as much as the treacherous terrain would allow him until he got to the gym leader, who was lying down on his back, covered in dust. There was so much blood...

"Blue!" he cried again and got no answer.

Red let himself fall on his knees next to his completely immobile friend, dreading the possibility that he might have come too late. He easily could see that Blue had a deep wound on his exposed arm. He had several cuts of varying sizes all over his face and arms. His legs were partially covered in small fragments of concrete, though nothing heavy enough to crush him. From where he was, Red saw no obvious sign of major injury other than the deep cut on his arm, but he was not nearly naive enough to think that Blue had just withstood an explosion in close range with nothing but cuts.

Gently, as careful as if he was handling a newborn, Red lifted up his head to try and see if he was breathing. As soon as his fingers touched the back of Blue's head, he withdrew one of his hands. His fingers were dripping with blood. Red gasped. He turned Blue's head slightly to the side and he saw a huge gash in the back of his head that was soaking his orange hair with blood. He had hit his head... very hard. _Oh, no..._

Suddenly afraid that he was making things worse, Red gently laid his head back down. A million unpleasant possibilities ran through his mind. What if he had broken his neck? What if he had cracked his skull? What if he had a brain hemorrhage? What if he had brain damage? What if he never woke up? Red tried to resist the urge to panick. He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and quickly dialed 911.

"I need an ambulance at the Viridian City Gym right now! My friend is badly injured!"

"Is your friend breathing?" the operator asked.

Red observed Blue carefully for a couple seconds and he couldn't see the natural rise and fall of his chest to indicate that he was. The former champion put his hand right under his nose and waited. Eventually he felt a puff of air in his palm. Blue was breathing but just barely.

"We're sending an ambulance right now, sir. Can you tell me what happened?"

"There was an explosion..." Red tried to explain with the limited knowledge he had of what actually happened to Blue prior to the detonation. There evidently had been a battle of some sort because he had what looked like a stab wound and he had gotten his Blastoise out, presumably to fight Giovanni off. Unfortunately for him, there was no winning against a man like him who cheated when it was convenient. Giovanni had apparently taken all the time he needed to set up his trap. He already knew the gym he used to own like the back of his hand. Blue had no idea that such a danger was stalking him. He never stood a chance, even as strong a trainer as he was. When Giovanni figured out it wasn't him he was looking for, he had decided to kill him.

"He was hurt in the explosion and he won't move! He's not waking up! He hit his head... There's blood everywhere!" The former champion was getting more and more agitated with every word he said. He knew his speech was all over the place but he couldn't help it. "You need to hurry! I don't know how long he's gonna last like this!"

Red hung up and gave his attention back to his fallen friend. He wished he knew what to do in such a situation but his knowledge of emergency medical care was limited. The explosion had been heard halfway across the city and woke most of its citizens up in a startle. When Red had neared the building, he saw that there were policemen and firefighters slowly gathering around it but so far, none of them seemed to have entered the building, most likely because of how unstable it looked. It was true that there was the eerie possibility that it would come crashing down on top of them and that it was the reason no one had come down here but him yet. Still, the Viridian City citizens knew that their beloved gym leader was in the building since he lived there; they surely wouldn't abandon him to his fate. Red had just thought it best to call for an ambulance and make them realize that there really _was_ a rush.

He looked down anxiously at his friend. The gym leader was getting worryingly pale, so much so that his lips and, bizarrely, even his fingernails were taking on a bluish tint. He was losing too much blood.

The former champion saw the wound on his forearm again and he told himself he had to do something to stop the bleeding. If only he had something he could tie around it! He cast a quick glance around him and saw nothing he could use. So the young trainer did the only other thing he could think of and grabbed Blue's injured arm tightly around his wound with both hands and squeezed with all he had to interrupt the blood flow. To his complete surprise, Red saw his friend's face scrunch up in pain ever so slightly and he felt him try to reflexively tug his arm away from his grip, albeit weakly. He was awake!

"Blue!" he called anxiously, trying to get a reaction out of him. The blonde trainer didn't stir or make a sound, giving no indication that he heard him. "Blue, wake up!" Red insisted. If he could get Blue to open his eyes and talk to him, that meant that he was gonna live, or so he told himself. "Wake up! Look at me! Look at me!"

Red let go of Blue's arm with one of his hands and lightly slapped at his cheek to get him to open his eyes. He resisted the urge to shake him, not wanting to make any unseen injury worse. After what felt like elongated minutes of getting no reaction whatsoever, the gym leader's eyes opened to tiny slits, staring right and left as if he was trying to find his bearings.

"Yes! Yes," Red encouraged him. "Look at me! I'm right here! Look at me!"

His friend's eyes kept looking around, seemingly unable to see him or anything at all around him. He kept opening and closing his mouth as if to say something but no sound came out. Blue seemed to be completely and utterly confused and Red could see from the blank expression on his face that he wasn't really aware of what was going on. His friend acted like he was blind, deaf and mute and he didn't like it one bit. Still, the fact that he was moving, even a little bit, was the most encouraging thing he saw about his state so far.

"Look at me, here!" Red snapped his fingers just a few centimeters from his face. Blue gave no indication that he saw or heard him at all. He didn't even blink; his pupils were weirdly and unnaturally dilated.

The gym leader started to cough weakly but it slowly turned into retching. He was about to vomit, Red understood. The brunette carefully turned his head to the side so he wouldn't choke on it. Blue threw up a little bit of bile and Red wondered why, though he patiently waited for it to be over. When Blue stopped retching, he didn't look any more aware than he was before. In fact, he looked so drained; like he was about to fade away.

Red realized that his grip on Blue's arm was getting loose and fresh blood was now soaking his hand. _Damnit..._ He cast another look around him to find something more efficient to stop it, and then he suddenly figured it out.

Red hurredily removed his belt and tied it as tightly as he could around Blue's arm right above his wound. It seemed to do the trick and the blood flow stopped. However, when he looked back at his friend real fear started to creep into his mind. Red saw Blue begin to close his eyes.

"No, Blue, don't! Stay with me! Stay with me! You're gonna be alright... There's an ambulance coming. You're gonna be alright. Just stay awake (he lightly slapped his cheek again). Just stay awake and look at me!"

But Blue's strenght was waning fast and it looked like he could slip away at any second. Red was literally feeling the life bleeding out of him. "Don't!" Red begged, feeling the urgency shake him to the core. He gave Blue's injured arm another particularly strong squeeze, hurting him to keep him awake. "Stay with me... Blue! You can't die! Not like this! Not tonight! Stay with me!"

Somewhere over his shoulder, he heard Blastoise cry out, desperately trying to crawl out of the rubble to find his master. Red's Charizard stood next to the two friends, looking down sadly, powerless, at the spectacle at his feet. Despite Red's best efforts, Blue closed his eyes again and he stopped moving.

"No... No, Blue! Don't die on me like that, you selfish bastard!" Red was feeling the panick taking over his whole being. "You can't die like this, damnit! People call you Iron Oak because you're unbeatable, so fight, damnit! Don't die like that! Don't do this!"

Try as he might, his friend did not respond, no matter how hard tightened the belt around his cold arm; no matter how much he yelled at him. Red did not notice the tears that were forming in his eyes.

"No..." he whimpered.

The world stopped turning for a moment and there was nothing he could process except for the agonizing cry of Blastoise somewhere on his right.

Red remained frozen in place, unable to tear his eyes from his best friend's lifeless face. He didn't notice the approach of the paramedics until they were right next to him. One of them grabbed him by the arm and sat him down a few feet away on a block of concrete. The man was talking to him but he wasn't really registering anything he said.

Two other paramedics rushed to Blue's side, one of them instructing the other.

The paramedic that was with Red kept talking to him while he lifted up his pant leg to examine his obvious bleeding wound. It hurt like hell but he didn't react to the man's gloved hand touching around it and examining it. He was starting to feel a little lightheaded.

"I'm fine," he said. He didn't want them to care for him. He wanted them to care for Blue.

He watched, without understanding anything of what was going on, as one of them tried to talk to Blue to wake him up while another slipped an oxygen mask with extreme care on his mouth.

One of them eventually cut Blue's shirt open with a pair of scisors and Red felt his heart drop when he saw what he saw. The gym leader had his whole upper body covered in an enormous purplelish bruise. Something was definetly wrong with his shoulders. Both of them were visibly deformed and on both sides, the collarbone was awkwardly poking out of its normal position.

The paramedics spoke to eachother but Red couldn't process any of it. Nothing made sense. All he could see was his friend's broken body.

"I'm fine," he kept repeating without realizing. He didn't notice as a strap of fabric was tightly tied around his leg.

They eventually brought a human-sized plastic board which they slowly and very carefully slid under Blue's body and the paramedics proceeded to secure him to it with a dozen straps so tightly that there was no movement possible for him. His head was also very tightly secured to the plank and the paramedics proceeded to lift him up to put him on the stretcher that was brought next to him.

Red watched, defeated, as Blue was taken away by the two paramedics, who carried him out of the gym's ruins. He heard Blastoise cry again.

The one that stayed with him tried to snap him out of his trance by talking to him.

"Sir... Sir!" he ended up hearing. "We're bringing in another stretcher for you. Everything's gonna be alright."

"No... I'm fine," Red said, though he didn't really know why. "Is he... is he dead?" he then asked. Did he really just see his best friend die right in front of him just a minute ago?

"He's on his way to the Viridian City General Hospital as we speak," was all the paramedic told him. The fact that he didn't answer his question did not go unnoticed by Red.

The former champion stood up, despite the paramedic's protests and the pain his injured leg was making him feel. He slowly pulled out his Charizard's pokéball and withdrew him inside. His brown eyes went to his friend's beloved starter who was still furiously trying to get out of the pile of rubble on top of him. Blastoise was looking at him, as if begging him to do something so he could be reunited with his master.

"Sir, you need to sit down," the paramedics said urgently, trying to pull his arm so he could sit him back on the block. He was probably worried about the possibility of Red falling down because of the blood loss-induced weakness. Red shrugged his grasp off and limped over to the helpless water type.

"I'm sorry, Blastoise," he said sadly. "I was too late."

The shellfish pokémon stopped its struggle and stared at him, its small triangular ears attentive to his every word.

"I wasn't strong enough..." he mumbled.

He pulled out an empty pokéball from his bag. "I will make sure you get to see him again... one last time." He encapsulated the pokémon inside of the ball, the debris that had come crashing down on top of him crumbling in the space his dematerialization created.

Just a few seconds later, a second stretcher was brought in the ruins and a new set of paramedics laid Red down on it so he could be carried out of the remains of the Viridian City gym.

* * *

 _And there you go. Another cliffhanger; cause I know you love these so much._

 _It may seem weird but vomiting is actually a common symptom of a concussion._

 _Did I just... Did I just?_


	28. Never an absolution

**Chapter 28:Never an absolution**

Red rubbed his tired eyes, sighing for the hundredth time as he lied in a lonely room in the Viridian City General Hospital. He cast a hundredth glance at the nearby clock. He had been in there one hour and forty-five minutes but it felt like a whole week.

The former champion had been brought to the emergency ward by the paramedics. He had felt very sleepy all the way to the hospital and when an actual doctor had come up to him to check on his leg, he barely registered any of the procedures that were done to him. He figured it must have been because he had lost quite a bit of blood but as they wheeled him up to the 8th floor where he was assigned a room to recover from the incident, the nurse had told him that neither his life nor his leg were in danger and that he just needed to rest.

So, Red was in his hospital bed, a thick bandage around his leg and an IV injecting whatever medication in his veins. It turned out that he got lucky. The bullet hadn't touched his bone or a major blood vessel. It was essentially just a flesh wound. It would be long before it would heal and stop being painful, but, provided that it was correctly cared for, he was at no risk of any permanent sequelae except for a scar. It stung but it wasn't so bad at the moment; probably because of that 'whatever' medication they injected in him.

An hour and forty-five minutes he'd been sitting there, waiting, while his best friend was lying somewhere in this hospital. Red didn't even know if he was still alive. When the paramedics came, Blue was already cold and unresponsive. He tried asking every nurse he saw for his friend's whereabouts but none of them could give him an answer. He told them he could go see for himself; that he could still walk with a crutch or something but the head nurse told him patients were not allowed to visit eachother, especially if one of them was in a critical state. Not knowing... it was driving him crazy. He tried to tell himself that if Blue really _was_ dead, it wouldn't take this long for them to tell him; that they had no reason to hide this information from him but it did nothing to reassure him. The grim possibility of Blue's death hung over him like a stormcloud. He had been in an explosion and a building collapse. He had hit his head and who knows what else... Could someone realistically survive that?

He was tormented by the horrifying image of his friend's injuries which kept popping in his mind. He kept beating himself up, wondering if he could have handled the situation better. If only he'd gotten to Viridian City faster, if only he could have stopped Giovanni before he blew up the whole place... What if he made Blue's injury worse by moving him around too much? Not to mention Giovanni had already slapped and kicked him before that.

It could take hours for him to get some news. Any news at all. But the former champion had no intention of leaving this hospital before he saw his friend, dead or alive.

It was about 2 am when Margaret rushed into his room and nearly ran over to him to give him a big hug. Red returned it gladly, at least slightly calmed by her presence and the knowledge that she was still alive and well. The former champion had called not long after he was installed into his room to let her know where he was. Of course, she was his mom, so she almost freaked out when she heard that he had been shot like any mom would have, but he quickly reassured her that his wound was not that bad. The woman had quickly made her way to the Viridian City General Hospital to check on her only son. Red considered himself to be lucky to have a mother like Margaret. Despite the fact that it wasn't currently the visit hours, the doctor had made an exception just this once because of how serious the circumstances of his hospitalisation were.

When mother and son let eachother go, Margaret's eyes went to his leg where she saw the bandages covering the gunshot wound. When she looked back at his face, she instantly noticed how grave his expression was. Something bad had happened. Something connected to the intruders that had walked into their house. She only knew half the story.

Red knew his mom was waiting for him to explain what and more importantly why what happened happened but it was difficult for him to talk about it, especially since he had no idea if his friend had even survived. He had to bring himself to do it, though. Margaret had gone through this pretty traumatic experience too; she deserved to know why.

So, he told her all he knew. Everything that happened between the moment he flew to Viridian City to the moment the paramedics brought him here. His run-in with Team Rocket, their genetically enhanced pokémon, their plan to get it back, his standoff with Giovanni, Blue possibly dying right in front of him...

Margaret listened to the whole tale without interrupting, understanding why her son was so distraught.

"It was me they were looking for the whole time," he explained, his heart heavy. "Blue had nothing to do with all this. He might... he might have died... for nothing!"

"Red..."

"It should have been me. _I_ should be the one dying right now; not him."

"Red, don't say things like that," Margaret stopped him, grabbing his hands in hers. "You had no way of knowing what was gonna happen. You tried to get to him as fast as you could. You protected him from that evil man. There was nothing more you could have done!"

"I know," he responded, head hung low. "This is what's driving me insane. I could do nothing to save him. He was innocent. It shouldn't have happened to him. It should have happened to _me_!"

Margaret sighed tiredly, understanding her son's distress very well. They both knew nothing could have been done to prevent this from happening but she couldn't expect Red to not be deeply affected by this. He could possily lose the one he saw as his brother because of a case of mistaken identity. Margaret was glad her son wasn't the one fighting for his life in a hospital bed but she certainly wasn't happy Blue had to.

Margaret had known Blue almost since the day he was born and she saw him grow up through many hardships and tribulations; saw him change from a nice peaceful child to a rebellious and angry teenager to a proud and independant adult. To her, Blue was more than just the neighboor kid. Especially since he and Red had worked out their differences and become friends; she saw him as part of her family, like a nephew or the likes. It became more and more true over the years while Blue's family fell apart in front of him and in front of her. When Sarah and Allan died, she remembered telling herself she would take him under her wing if she could. Had he not have had his grandfather and sister, she would have, despite the fact that she was a single mother struggling to make ends meet. Just as she was grateful her son hadn't grown up an unstable and bitter man because of his father's abandonment, she was glad Sarah's son hadn't fallen into a bad life and, in spite of his infamous temper, had become a respected and admired adult and one of the best pokémon trainer of his time. Blue's life was a tragic story but he had managed to pull through stronger and better from it, at least up to this point.

"Red, there's no use thinking about what could have happened and what didn't happen. That's not helping anyone, much less Blue. What you need to do is what you've always done so far. You need to stay strong and be by his side until he recovers or until he doesn't."

Margaret knew her choice of words was harsh but she figured beating around the bush was not really helpful in this situation. Red eventually nodded; he knew she was right.

"We're going to visit him as soon as we can," she assured him.

* * *

Margaret remained at his bedside until morning, and she then left for home after promising to come back later during the day. Red assured her that he was fine and that she didn't need to visit him everyday but he had a feeling she was gonna do whatever she wanted regardless. The medical staff came by not long after he finished his breakfast and his injury was cleaned and his bandages replaced. He showed no sign of infection so everything was going well so far. He was told he would get his discharge when the bullet hole actually closed. The rest of the healing could take place at home. It would be a while before he could put weight on it but that was just a detail.

Again, all he could think of was about whether his best friend had survived the night. Despite how tired he was, he never managed to sleep through the rest of the night. There was too much on his mind. How he wanted to get up and find out by himself but he could hardly escape the ward without any of the nurses noticing him; not with his ability to walk severely impaired. Maybe it was his imagination, but it was like they were trying to hide something from him.

In the middle of the afternoon, he received a somewhat unexpected visitor in the person of professor Oak. The old researcher had a worried frown on his face; no doubt he had been made aware of the events that had transpired at the Viridian City gym, if not by the hospital itself, then probably by the intense media coverage the whole thing got. It was no surprise the old man would become anxious about his grandson's whereabouts when he learned that the building that held both his workplace and home had blown up.

The two men exchanged a look before Samuel sat down on the chair next to the bed.

"Red... Are you okay?" he asked.

The former champion appreciated it but he was anxiously waiting for the opportunity to bombard him with questions about his friend.

"I'm fine," he responded dismissively. Honestly, he was a little sick of people worrying about _him_. It's not _him_ they should be worried about. "It's nothing worse than a broken leg."

The old man nodded pensively and an awkward silence fell into the small room. Red eventually worked up the courage to ask what he was dying to know.

"Did you see him?" he inquired, concern evident in his voice.

"Unfortunately, I haven't," Samuel shook his head sadly. "I came here as soon as I heard what happened but they wouldn't let me see him because he was in critical condition."

"He's alive!?" Red exclaimed, straightening up instantly, a rush of hope reviving his entire being.

Samuel seemed slightly surprised that the young trainer seemed to think otherwise. "Well, he was this morning, at least... but they told me he was still very unstable and that he could die at any moment." The old researcher's voice caught in his throat and he ran a hand over his eyes to regain his composure.

"Damnit," Red growled in frustration, his previous relief dying down immediately. He couldn't take it anymore. Not _knowing_. After a moment of silence, he spoke. "I saw him die... At least, I thought I did... I didn't want to believe it... I didn't want it to be true, so I held on to the hope that maybe my eyes deceived me..."

He thought that if Blue hadn't died amongts the remains of his gym, he had come damn well close to. The paramedics had come in just in time, it seemed.

"What happened?" Samuel's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "What happened to him?" he asked almost pleadingly. "You know why it happened. You know something no one else knows. You _have_ to tell me." It was not surprising he would ask this. The pokémon professor had literally no idea why the gym exploded and why his grandson was between life and death. That had to be nerve wracking.

"It's... a long story," Red muttered.

"Well, there isn't much else we can do while we wait," Samuel commented with a hint of impatience. "So tell me."

Red sighed but yielded. The fact that the old man showed concern for his grandson was a good thing, considering he hadn't always been the most caring parental figure in the past. The old man genuinely seemed to want to fix his past mistakes now, and Red had no intention of getting in the way of that. He just hoped Blue would live to see the change.

"Back when I was trying to complete the pokédex, I came across a very powerful and very dangerous pokémon. I told you about it, if you remember."

"Yes I think I do. A psychic pokémon that was a genetially modified clone of Mew. But what does that have to do with what happened to Blue?"

"I wasn't sure back then but I eventually discovered that the creation of that pokémon was a project funded by Team Rocket. They wanted to use that pokémon for whatever evil plans they had but it escaped. I found it in Cerulean Cave and nearly got my whole team and myself killed trying to catch it. When I got it, it proved to be too powerful and too dangerous to tame. So I didn't keep it. I handed it over to a secret research facility where it's still contained to this day."

Red could see that the researcher was still wondering what this had to do with his grandson but he didn't interrupt.

"Team Rocket returned after all these years and they wanted to get their pokémon back. But they didn't know which one between Blue and me had it. So they tried to capture us both. I managed to escape thanks to my mom's help but Blue, well..."

The former champion felt uneasy about going into more detail. Samuel crossed his arms in deep thought, trying to process all the information he was given. The old man had seen the aftermath of the criminal's kidnapping attempt on him when he had been woken up in the middle of the night by dozens of police sirens and lights. Margaret had told him what she knew, which wasn't much. A few hours later, he got a phone call telling him his grandson might be dead.

The former champion explained with as much detail as he could the exchange he had with Giovanni, the way he got shot and Blue's Blastoise which had surprised the boss of Team Rocket and put a definitive end to his criminal career. He told him how he found Blue and why he had been so scared he had died. Strangely, his memories were confused and disorganized and he had to correct himself a few times for getting the order of the events wrong or forgetting some details. It happened less that 24 hours ago; he shouldn't be so confused but he figured it probably had something to do with the intense agitation he had been in at the moment, which caused him to not fully process everything that happened to him. The blood loss probably didn't help either.

"That's it," the old man got sick of the suspense. "I'm going to the emergency ward right now to get answers."

He got up with new resolution and went to exit the room. He stopped in the doorframe for a second.

"You just rest and get better, Red," he told him with a serious tone.

"Just... just let me know if you... find anything," the former champion asked carefully.

"Of course," the professor nodded as he walked out with a brisk pace.

And Red found himself alone again, powerless and frustrated. He tightly gripped the bed sheets, growling inwardly. _Damn you, Giovanni..._

* * *

"Samuel Oak," a serious-looking middle-aged woman wearing a white labcoat walked up to him. He had been sitting impatiently in a seat in the emergency ward after announcing his presence and intentions at the front desk. He stood up and shook her hand.

"I am doctor Garcia, the emergency physician. You are Mr Blue Oak's grandfather, correct?"

"I am."

"Follow me, please."

The doctor took them both to a small office, one of the many around the emergency ward and invited him to sit down in front of her as she took place behind her desk. The woman knew why he had come here. The seriousness of her face worried him. She put a merciful end to the suspence when she finally talked.

"He is still alive," she announced. The pokémon professor breathed out a sigh of relief. "However..." His relief was short lived because the doctor continued gravely, "he is still in critical condition and is being kept under very close observation as we speak. It's still too soon to tell if he'll live through the next few days."

Samuel gulped.

"What happened to him?" he asked, anxious to know just how serious Blue's injuries had been.

"Your grandson is unwell, Mr Oak. Very unwell. It's almost a miracle that he survived this long."

Samuel closed his eyes for a second, remembering the day, more than two decades ago, when Blue came into this world. He didn't breathe for a full two minutes after being born. He remembered how terrified Allan had been to have lost his second child. Against all odds, he had begun to breathe after such a long time and not only did he survive, he also hadn't suffered any negative aftereffects from the oxygen deprivation. His survival had been a miracle that day, too. His father had had the most profound conviction at that moment, that his son was a fighter and would emerge victorious against anything life would throw at him. Of course, things were not so simple but Samuel hoped that his son would be right again and that Blue would cheat death once more.

"He is a stubborn one," Samuel said, with something akin to pride illuminating his features without him truly realising it.

"When he got here, he was suffering from a severe hypovolemic shock, which is the most immediate threat to his life, right now. We had to give him several transfusions to make up for the blood loss, as well as some norepinephrine, which is similar to adrenaline, to avoid cardiac arrest and increase the heart's pumping strenght," the woman continued.

Samuel listened to her every word with the most intense concentration. As a man of science and a researcher used to working with live creatures, Samuel knew a thing or two about medicine, human or veterinary. He knew a hypovolemic shock was the consequence of some serious blood loss and could cause cardiac arrest and organ failure. Just horrible.

"He also sustained several injuries as a result of an approximated 6 meters fall. He dislocated both his shoulders because of the force of impact of landing on concrete and broke both his clavicles. Those injuries are not life-threatening in and of themselves, but he also got a pretty serious concussion and a strained neck. We've performed an emergency scan yesterday and found no sign of internal bleeding but the back of his skull is fractured. It created an 8cm gash on the skin which we surgically stapled close."

The more Samuel heard, the more worried he became about the outcome of the hospitalisation. What would happen to Blue if he survived and woke up? How would he recover from all these injuries? The doctor kept adding to the list:

"He has a stab wound on the right arm which we also had to operate on. We pulled out a few shards of glass and wood from all over his body."

The doctor made a pause at that moment and Samuel could just feel that she was about to tell him something very unpleasant.

"Unfortunately, his L2 vertebra is fractured."

A deafening silence invaded the cubicle. A cracked vertebra... Blue had actually broken his back in his fall. The doctor suspected that it had been the first thing to hit the ground when he fell and had taken the most damage as a result. Samuel knew, even with his limited knowledge of medicine that a broken back could mean a whole lot of very serious things... He knew it would be bad but he didn't think it would be quite _this_ bad.

"It's lucky he didn't break his neck, actually. His back fracture is not exactly a threat to his survival per se, but it could generate a myriad of complications long term."

"What kind of complications?" Samuel dared to ask even though he was clearly afraid of the answer.

"I'm sorry to have to warn you not to be too optimistic, even if he does survive. I have called one of my neuro-surgeon colleagues and he will do everything he can to fix the damage but be aware that paralysis is a possibility. The strong impact to the back of the skull could also cause irreversible blindness."

The researcher shuddered inwardly.

"Right now, he has been put in a medically-induced coma."

The doctor explained to him that the neurologist had ordered Blue to be put in an artificial coma; a temporary and intentionnal coma that was carefully controlled by a calculated dose of barbiturate drugs. This was not an uncommon procedure to undergo for polytraumatized patients; patients who had suffered multiple injuries, especially head trauma. It was essentially done for two major reasons: to spare the patient the torture of being conscious and aware of all the pain the wounds inflicted until they were healed enough to be bearable and to reduce the cerebral blood flow which decreased the amount of space occupied by the brain and relieved some of the intracranial pressure. _In theory_ , by relieving the swelling caused by the trauma, some or all brain damage could be averted. Doing so was also gonna put his concussed brain in a state of rest, where it would have nothing to manage except the most basic vital functions, which would allow it to, hopefully, repair the damage done to it faster and more efficiently. This was not something simple anasthesia could do as the brain remained very active even while asleep.

"I want to see him," Samuel interjected pleadingly. "Please, let me see him. Let me see my grandson."

* * *

He was told by the staff that he could only visit for a maximum of fifteen minutes. Patients that were still very unstable and dependant on medical equipment to stay alive didn't usually receive visitors but of course, exceptions had to be made for close relatives, especially if the risk of the patient not surviving was high.

When Samuel walked into the room Blue was being kept, he felt his heart clench painfully. His grandson was lying in a bed, his eyes closed. An IV, a heart monitor and a multitude of other devices were hookep up to him. His neck was encased in a solid plastic brace. The plastic tube of the tracheal intubation, which had been inserted all the way down his throat emerged from his mouth and a small square of medical tape at the corner of his lips helped keep it in place. The tube was connected to what was presumably a respirator which emitted the only sound to be heard in the room other than the heart monitor's slow and steady beeping. Most of his body was hidden by the multitude of thick covers they had wrapped him in which probably dissimulated a bunch of medical apparatus that was no doubt installed to deal with his multiple injuries, most notably his back fracture. No doubt losing a lot of blood had made his body temperature drop dangerously. Just seeing what Samuel was seeing was enough to break his heart.

Blue's face was pale and multiple cuts marred it, some of which had been stitched close. His lips were an unsettling shade of purple and so was the skin around his eyes. The elder Oak could actually partially see that a small section of his grandson's hair in the back of his head had been shaved off so that the gash caused by his fall could be cleaned and surgically stapled close.

Samuel sat down next to the bed on a nearby chair, contemplating the spectacle sadly. Seeing his grandson like that, severely injured and fighting for his life gave him horrible flashbacks to the day he was asked to identify his son's dead body at the morgue, especially since they looked alike a lot. If it wasn't for the sound of the respirator or the heart monitor, he would actually look dead.

Allan's official cause of death had been stated to be lethal trauma to the head. It had happened so fast and so brutally that he was killed instantly and never had a chance to understand what hit him. Similarly to his wife, his body had been horribly mutilated; so much so that even if the head trauma hadn't killed him, at least half a dozen other injuries he was inflicted would have in a matter of minutes. Samuel was glad he never had to witness the horrible accident that resulted in his son's death but the image of his mangled dead body and half disfigured face haunted his nightmares periodically to this very day.

Blue's medically-induced coma didn't look like a peaceful slumber like many movies made it look. He really looked dead. There was none of the natural sleep movement of the eyes behind his eyelids. In fact, there was no movement whatsoever other than the steady rise and fall of his chest following the rhythm of the respirator forcefully injecting air directly into his lungs through a tube. This was what being comatose was like. There was no dreaming happening. His grandson was completely disconnected from the world around or within. During sleep, the brain kept working diligently. Blue's concussed brain however, was completely inactive; or at the very least any conscious, controllable part of it was. All it could manage, was the absolute bare minimum to keep itself alive. Getting the heart to pump; getting most of the organs to do their job.

A blood bag was hooked up to him and injected the life-saving blood he so desperately needed into his veins, through the crook of his elbow. This blood, that some anonymous person had donated, was literally the only reason his grandson was still alive right now. This was the only thing that prevented his brain, his heart and every other organ in his body from shutting down completely and succumbing to the hypovolemic shock.

The doctor had told him to forget about the mushy scenes of movies where a person in a coma found his way back to life after hearing the encouragements from his loves ones. Real life was not nearly as poetic. Blue couldn't hear anything, couldn't feel anything; he couldn't be conscious of anything going on around or in him. Talking to him would be like talking to a statue... or a corpse.

It shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't be his 21 year old grandson lying in a hospital bed, his life hanging in the balance while his 70 year old self was still in good health and unscathed. It should be the other way around. A man this young shouldn't have to worry about dying.

The painful memory of the day he lost his child combined with the very real fear of losing his living legacy was too much for the old researcher and he felt his eyes fill with tears. There was a chance his grandson wouldn't live to see the next day... his 22nd birthday... his nephew or niece. There was a chance he would die before he ever knew just how much he meant to him.

His throat constricted by bitter sorrow, Samuel put a very gentle and delicate hand on Blue's forehead, wishing he could hear him but of course, he couldn't. He was almost cold to the touch. Sitting there, Samuel could only be reminded of their last conversation. That was the closest he had come to breaking past Blue's psychological defenses and to get him to talk to him; to really _talk_ to him. He had actually looked like he was considering giving him another chance. Would this all go to waste?

Samuel knew why his grandson hated him. He knew it all too well. He could blame it all he wanted on Blue's attitude and temper but the truth was, he had been unjustifyingly harsh and uncaring towards a boy who had grown up desperatly trying to get his attention and love. His fighting with the other kids, the pokémon training, the vying for the champion title; Samuel saw, now, that all of this had been a desperate cry for his attention; for his acknowledgment. Looking back at his own attitude more than ten years later, though he still remembered his reasons, he could no longer justify them to himself anymore.

He hadn't been fair to Blue. True, his grandson hadn't exactly been the easiest child ever, but it probably never would have gotten this bad if he had just given him a little bit of affection. Wasn't that what his own son had shown him, by becoming a loving husband for his broken and emotionnally damaged wife? She had originated from the toughest background there was but meeting Allan had changed her from an angry, bitter and disillusioned woman to a wonderful and caring mother for her kids.

But he didn't give his grandson what he wanted. Instead, he had given it all to his then-rival. Red was such a nice and respectful kid who hid under his cold facade a bright intelligence, a big heart and a very caring nature; all traits that led him to shine bright as a champion.

And because he never got what he wanted when it mattered, Blue had turned away from him to get his sense of fulfillment on his own. Becoming a gym leader had become his purpose, something he wanted to accomplish for himself; for no one else. Samuel realised the error of his ways far too late. His grandson didn't need him anymore.

To this day, he still saw Red as the exemplary trainer and grandson he always wanted but now, he saw how unfair it was to compare Blue to him. They were two very different people and they had different backgrounds. Red was still just an apprentice he introduced to the world of pokémon and sent on his way to become the best. Blue, for as imperfect as he was, was still part of his family; his flesh and blood and he had no right to neglect him the way he did. Who was he to blame him for being an imperfect grandson if he himself was an imperfect grandfather?

Blue still cared; even though he desperately tried not to. Despite how angry, bitter and disillusioned his family situation had made him, there was still a part of him that wished it was another way, he believed. That's why he never left forever, even though he easily could have. Just as there was a part of him that never really came back home after losing his champion title to his rival, there was a part of him that never really left Pallet Town and it showed when he got very emotionnal during their last conversation.

Just when it looked like Blue might give him another chance... he was critically injured and fighting for his life.

He was so young. He was barely an adult. He had so much left to experience. He never got to meet the woman of his life. He never got to marry or start a family. He never got to have a real normal home. Instead, he was fading away in a hospital bed because he was the unfortunate target of a criminal thought to be long dead. Injured possibly fatally because of some information he didn't even have.

Samuel stayed by his grandson's side for as long as he could before a nurse came by to tell him it was time to leave. He could return tomorrow, they told him. They would call him if anything happened. _I wish I told you how much I love you before it was too late..._

* * *

 _I love how no one noticed the foreshadowing of the cover. Nobody ever asked what the fuck was up with that cover, lol._

 _There is a lot of medical theory in this one. A hypovolemic shock is indeed what happens when a person loses 20% or more of his or her blood volume and it can cause organ failure, brain damage or death. An immediate transfusion is the only way to prevent the consequences._

 _For a skull fracture, there is really nothing to be done. You can't put it in a cast. You just have to wait for it to heal. Same goes for clavicle fractures. The back portion of the brain is what understands what our eyes perceive which is why a strong enough impact in this region can cause a person to become blind, because the part of the brain that processes what we see is damaged or destroyed. It's possible to become blind even if there is nothing wrong with the eyes themselves._

 _A medically induced coma is indeed a real thing and is pretty much what I described._

 _I am just so cruel with poor Blue, am I?_

 _6 meter fall = 20 feet fall. That's gonna hurt._


	29. Leave it all to chance

_Hey guys... Here we are. I never though I would get there when I began writing this story but then it happened. 100 reviews. I can't thank you enough for taking a few minutes of your time to tell me your thoughts on this story. It's the reward for working so hard on this think since September. You're like old friends to me, now! Seriously, thank you very very much, I assure you it means a lot to me and I want you guys by my side until we reach the conclusion of this story!_

 _Things have been... pretty rough for me lately and it's been harder to get writing done. I used to be two or three chapters in advance but now I'm losing my lead because I'm honestly running out of energy for life in general... So knowing you guys like what I do helps me pull through._

* * *

 **Chapter 29: Leave it all to chance**

The media was all over the story. It went from one sensational headline to the next: 'Terror attack at Viridian City gym!', 'Viridian City gym explodes; criminal activity suspected', 'The return of Team Rocket? The Viridian City gym destroyed'...

The news spread like wildfire across Kanto and, not long after, to Johto and other regions. In every newspaper, in every TV broadcast, you would see pictures of the remains of the building.

Viridian City local news, especially, where continuously talking about what happened. Their gym had exploded and was beyond repair for obscure reasons, the dead bodies of five unknown people, one of which was so severely mutilated it was unindentifiable, were found, and three dead pokémon were found in the rubble; one kangaskhan and her baby and one Alakazam that was heavily rumored to be the gym leader's...

As if that wasn't enough, their beloved Iron Oak was seen being taken to the hospital in a hurry (someone had even managed to get a short film of him being carried into the ambulance) and even now, several days later, no one knew if he'd actually been a sixth dead body.

Just a day after the news came out, the media began asking for answers regarding what happened. Was the explosion accidental or was truly the result of criminal activity? Who were all the dead people found amongst the ruins? And more importantly, was the gym leader still alive?

When the ambulance took him to the local hospital was the last time the general public, which had gathered around the site of the explosion in the hopes of seeing something out of morbid curiosity, had seen him and despite all the pictures and videos that were taken by random people of the event, no one had the slightest idea if he had survived. The former League champion had been seen being evacuated too but there was no news from him either. The Indigo League had remained quiet about the whole thing overall.

Neither the police, nor the hospital staff had been allowed to reveal what happened to Iron Oak or why it did. The League had demanded an investigation to be conducted but even though Team Rocket was eventually discovered to have been involved in the explosion, little was known about their motivations, since all of the members that had been present on the premises were dead. The only confirmed survivor of the tragedy was the former League Champion but so far, not even the police was allowed to talk to him since he was estimated not to have recovered enough physically and mentally from the incident by the doctors.

It wasn't long before the public, and the Viridian citizens especially, got sick of the silence and began protesting and demanding answers. Both the League and the police had their hands full dealing with the angry and anxious masses.

Such grave events and so little answers gave way to wild speculations amongst the public. Many believed that the Viridian City gym leader had been assassinated and that the League, who had never really been quite fond of their disobedient employee, was trying to cover it up. Others thought it was Team Rocket trying to regain control of the city by taking over the gym again. As the days went by, more and more crazy theories surfaced and no one would confirm or debunk any of them. One persistant question remained: was Blue Oak still alive?

Red knew the hospital had to work hard and be extremely careful not to let any nosy reporter slip into the ward to try and find out. His own room's door had been kept shut at all times and no one had been allowed in except for his acquaintances and the medical staff. Whenever he had gone out for a breath of fresh air in a secluded corner of the hospital, he expected a damn journalist to assault him with questions.

Truth be told, Red was in no mood to talk about any of what happened. He had been informed a few days after his arrival in the hospital, that his friend was still alive but in a very critical condition. Eventually, he was told he had stabilized and that his life was no longer in danger. It should have been a relief to know that he hadn't been too late to save his friend's life. However, after being briefed by professor Oak about his actual condition, he had been hardly any less worried. It was not clear just yet what state the accident was gonna leave Blue in but one thing was for sure: his health was never quite going to be the same after that.

So, Red remained quiet and refused to talk to any media, just like professor Oak, and just waited for the day his good friend was going to be brought back to the real world when the doctor decided it was time to wake him up from his coma.

* * *

Six days into Blue's coma, Samuel got a phone call from the neurologist who asked him to come for a visit because he apparently had something very important to tell him. None of his colleagues objected to him leaving work early. They all knew that their boss's infamous grandson was badly injured, so no one dared to get in the way of something as serious as that.

When Samuel was allowed in the ICU, he announced his presence and was told that he could wait for the doctor in Blue's room. So, he sat down in the room his grandson was lying in.

Over the last six days, he had visited three times; that was as much as he could do without getting way behind on his work. Plus, it wasn't like Blue would be awake to see him; there really was nothing he could do during his visits except ask for an update from the nurses. Samuel was exhausted from all the stress and the lack of sleep the whole thing inflicted upon him.

Blue was pretty much exactly the same way as last time he saw him. The only differences were that most of the cuts on his face were actually closed, although still clearly visible and that there was no longer a blood bag attached to him. At last, after six days of uncertainty, of lying awake at night fearing he would fade away while no one was looking, Blue's condition had finally stabilized and the doctors no longer feared for his life. Thanks to the several transfusions, he was fully recovered from the hypovolemic shock and his organs began functionning properly again.

His injuries, though, were not exactly better after only six days. He still wore a neck brace and a tracheal intubation still delivered oxygen to his lungs. His previously dislocated shoulders had been popped back into their sockets but his two broken collarbones were just left as they were, as there really was nothing to be done for this kind of fracture. The result were that his shoulders were covered in a huge purple bruise. But since Blue was completely unmoving anyway, this would help them heal faster.

The main concerns at this point, were his skull fracture and his back fracture. Something Samuel hadn't seen before, because Blue had been wrapped in a bunch of blankets to keep him warm, was the enormous back brace, made visible now because his upper body was bare, that encased his entire midsection. It looked and functionned pretty much like a corset, except it was completely rigid and allowed no movement of the spine in any direction to avoid making the fracture worse. It was difficult to say, the doctors had told him previously, just how serious the damage to the spinal chord was while Blue was unconscious. They would only know for sure when they would be able to actually ask him if he still had sensitivity in his legs and conduct neurological tests they couldn't perform on a comatose patient.

For the same reason, it would be difficult to tell how bad the damage to his brain was until he woke up. The scans let them know that it didn't look all that bad; that nothing looked ruptured or out of place; the intentionnal coma seemed to have served its purpose of avoiding major brain damage, but nothing was certain for now. A blow to the head strong enough to fracture his skull would most certainly have repercussions. What they would be and whether it would be permanent was still a mystery.

As Samuel sat quietly in the room, listening distractedly to the sound of the respirator and observing his grandson's still form, the doctor; the neurologist, walked in and politely greeted him. His expression was serious and professionnal. The pokémon professor didn't know if he had to brace himself for bad news or on the contrary, if he could allow himself to be optimistic. Maybe Blue was finally ready to emerge from his coma?

"Mr Oak," the doctor saluted him. "I am glad you could make it here today."

"Of course," the researcher nodded apprehensively after standing up politely to greet him.

"The reason I called you here today is of the utmost importance," the neurologist warned him. Obviously, something was going on, and it was very serious. "Unfortunately, your grandson will still be kept in a coma for another estimated three weeks, bare minimum to maximize the chances of his brain recovering from the concussion, but his back fracture cannot be left unattended for that long. The longer it is left as it is, the more damage it risks causing to his nervous system. We need to operate on him as soon as possible."

The pokémon professor nodded in understanding. He expected something like that to come up eventually, really, but it was still a very big deal because it could be the deciding factor whether Blue recovered from the accident or not.

"I'm only telling you about this now because, prior to this, he was way too unstable for us to even consider the intervention. But now that his vitals are stable and that his life is no longer in immediate danger, it's time to talk about surgery."

Again, Samuel nodded in understanding. The doctor continued:

"However, since Blue is obviously in no position to consent to the procedure, we need to ask the family, you, to consent for him."

Samuel understood why the responsibility fell on his shoulders and the importance for Blue to get that operation. However, he would be lying if he pretended that making such an important decision without his grandson's knowledge didn't put him at least a little bit on edge.

"What is that procedure, exactly?" he inquired, wanting to get as much information as possible to make the decision in the best possible circumstances.

The man pulled out an x-ray from a folder he'd been carrying. The x-ray effectively displayed a side view of Blue's spine and Samuel didn't need to be a medical expert to spot the fracture. There, clear as day, in Blue's lower back, was the second lumbar vertebra, snapped clean in half. Samuel winced. It hurt just to look at it. The two pieces of the bone just awkwardly floated apart from one another while still being attached to the lower and upper vertebare. If Blue hadn't worn a brace, his posture would probably look abnormally deformed.

"You see, if we leave it as it is, the two pieces of the vertebra will never repair themselves and it would not only be impossible for Blue to even sit up, it would also be inhumanely painful and would leave the spinal chord completely exposed and unprotected which will leave it vulnerable to more damage. What we need to do is glue that vertebra back in one piece, so to speak, and then we will bolt two flexible metal rods on either side of his spine that will help keep it straight and relieve the pressure on the injury so that it can heal properly."

"I... see."

"We need to act fast before it begins to heal improperly. If we wait much longer, the damage to his nervous system will worsen. There is still a chance to avoid complete paralysis of the lower limbs if we act quickly enough. The metal rod will help keep that all in place. He can live a perfectly normal life after that operation, if everything goes well."

"And if not everything goes well?" was the unpleasant question Samuel had no choice but to ask.

"The surgery itself is unlikely to be cause for concern but I'm obligated to tell you that there is a chance it might not work."

"Not work?"

"There's unfortunately a probability that the vertebra might break again. And if the rod isn't bolted correctly or if the spine is stressed too much too soon, it might damage the other vertebrae. It's unlikely but the probability is still there. I understand it's worrying for you but you have to remember that if we don't do anything, his condition is garanteed to deteriorate and quite painfully so."

Samuel stole a glance at his unmoving grandson. It was quite obvious what the right choice was. To decide between a fair chance of recovery and the certainty of a painfully degrading condition was a no brainer. However, the fact of the matter was that it wasn't Blue himself who made the decision. It was him, the grandfather he never truly got along with. What if something _did_ go wrong with the surgery? Then Samuel would be responsible for it and that was something he knew he would have a hard time living with.

"This... this is all so much to take in..." Samuel breathed uneasily.

"I know. I understand. You don't need to give me an answer right now but I must still remind you that we can't afford to wait much longer. If you would, I would like to get your answer within the next 24 hours. Would that be alright?"

"Yes. Yes, of course... I will let you know."

* * *

Samuel arrived back in Pallet Town just as the sun was setting down. The whole drive was spent in deep thought. All the implications of what the doctor told him; the decision he had to take and what the consequences of that may be... Blue would never have intentionnally left his fate in the hands anyone else; family or not. But there wasn't much of a choice, now. The pokémon professor had at least one person he wanted to consult before consenting to the procedure.

Daisy had been awfully quiet since she heard what happened to her brother. She never visited him in the hospital, she deliberately avoided talking to her grandfather; it was as though she was pretending nothing ever happened. She was hiding away, avoiding the painful situation. Samuel just didn't know if it was out of guilt for what she said to him, or because she still resented him for causing her separation from her husband. The elder Oak didn't pressure her into doing anything up to this point, since Blue was still unconscious, but now, that silence had lasted long enough.

Since her divorce, Daisy had gotten herself a smaller house and lived all by herself and Samuel had been helping her financially when the need was felt. Living all by herself was very difficult for Daisy, who didn't deal very well with loneliness and her pregnancy and anxiety regarding her and her child's future was tormenting her every waking moment.

There was no way Blue's situation left her completely indifferent but her true feelings were closely guarded, so much so that it was starting to irritate her grandfather.

He knocked at her door and waited for a few seconds for her to let him in. She smiled amically and invited him to sit in the living room, offering him some tea, which he declined, telling her he didn't intend on staying very long. His granddaughter still made herself a cup and then joined him on the couch.

"How are you doing, grandpa?" she inquired.

"Fine," he answered quickly. "I'm doing fine." He saw that she was about to say something else but he didn't give her the time to keep going with the small talk. He was too stressed to accept her dancing around the matter he came to bring up. "Daisy, there is something really important we need to discuss. About your brother."

"Grandpa, I'd really rather wouldn't-"

"That's not going to cut it Daisy," he interrupted her, putting a swift end to her attempts at dodging the subject. "I understand it's difficult for you. It's difficult for me too. Don't forget that I know exactly what happened between you two. I know it made you very upset but this is serious. Very serious."

The woman looked down at her tea, trying to keep a neutral face.

"I never really intended to tell you this but at the point we're at, I think there's no need to keep secrets anymore. I talked to Blue before the accident. He knows what he did wrong and he feels really bad about it. And I'm not just saying that. He really did understand what he did wrong and he regrets it. I know he does. I know it's hard but you have to find it in you to forgive him."

Daisy kept avoiding his stare.

"You have to ask yourself if you're really so mad at him that you don't even care if he dies? He's been in a coma for six days and spent most of that time between life and death and I couldn't help but notice that you didn't visit him, or even inquire about his state once."

His granddaughter still said nothing but he could see from her reddening face that she was trying not to cry but was failing miserably at it. Seeing as she didn't try to reply, Samuel went on.

"Look. Blue has a fractured vertebra and he needs surgery to repair it, otherwise he'll never be able to stand up again. He can't make the decision to go through with it in the state he's in so it falls upon us, his _family_ , to make it for him."

Once again, his words were met with nothing but silence.

"You don't care?" he asked her severely. Still nothing. "I'm doing this. With or without you. But I really want you to think; think _hard_ about where you want to stand in all of this. You're lucky he didn't die; you would have had to spent the rest of your life knowing that the last thing you told him was that you were glad to be rid of him. (Daisy burst out crying, burying her face in her hands) You have a chance to make things right, Daisy, and to show him that you care. Don't waste it because of your pride."

The elder Oak got up and stepped towards the front door, fully intending to let her think about what she was gonna do next. He hoped she would chose the right answer.

"I'm gonna give the green light for the surgery tomorrow. Think about this in the meantime."

* * *

Samuel showed up back at the hospital the next morning, serious and determined. Blue was going to go under the knife today and that was it. Things couldn't be left as they were any longer. The old researcher told himself that it would be a good thing for this to be done while Blue was unconscious; it would be less traumatizing, he figured. There was no reason for anything to go wrong.

Daisy never showed up; never called. The elder Oak was as disappointed as could be that she wouldn't even step up as her younger brother was about to go through a life-changing operation but he couldn't let that affect him. If Daisy wasn't going to be there for him, then all the more reasons for him to make it his mission to be.

So, Samuel was given a summary of the procedure by the neuro-surgeon. They would make an approximate 40cm incision in his lower back in order to reach the fracture and put the vertebra back in one piece so that the natural healing process would eventually fuse the fragments together as any bone could do. Afterwards, the would insert two metal rods, which he physically showed him (they were about the same width as a pencil) on either side of his spine and bolt it to it in order to support the back and solidify the fragilized lumbar section. It sounded simple enough but it was still clearly a very big and important operation. Not to mention that eventual complications during the recovery could have catastrophic consequences. But if everything went according to plan, and provided that the damage to the spinal chord hadn't been too bad, Blue would eventually be able so stand and walk and pretty much live a normal life with the metal rods in his back. It was a risk, but it was a risk they had no choice but to take.

Samuel signed the papers and shortly afterwards, watched his grandson being taken away to the operation room. The elder Oak prayed that everything would go right.

The procedure would take several hours and Blue wouldn't be taken back to his room right afterwards. He would spend a good amount of time in the recovery room so basically, Samuel would have to wait until tomorrow to see him again. As he drove back to Pallet Town, he tried not to imagine what it must look like to bolt a metal rod to a bone. At least in a coma, Blue wouldn't feel the pain of that.

* * *

Red was finally discharged after a 23 days hospitalisation. The bullet wound in his leg had finally closed and, although it wasn't actually quite healed yet, it was deemed manageable for him to take care of by himself, provided he showed up to a few check-up appointments in the following weeks. He was carefully instructed about how to care for the injury and was given medical supplies and pain killers to help him deal with the still very sensitive injury. All in all, things had gone pretty well for him and he was able to walk around with the help of crutches.

Margaret had been by his side when he walked out of his room for the last time. They both knew they would not get out of this hospital before they visited Blue, whom Red hadn't seen since the standoff with Giovanni. His friend had gone through a very important surgery that hopefully would see his back fracture repaired more than two weeks ago, already. The frustration of not being allowed to visit him was slightly dampered by the steady news professor Oak gave him on each of his visits. Apparently, the surgery had gone as well as it could have and the gym leader had been recovering normally in the ICU ever since.

They had to wait until 2 pm for the visiting hours. Red and Margaret waited their turn to be let into the ICU until the nurse went to fetch them in the waiting room. She punched in a code to unlock the door and let them both in.

The ICU was quiet... Very quiet. The patients there were either badly hurt or badly sick so they were pretty silent. There was no sound except for the nurses' steps on the tile floor. Red and Margaret were led to room 308, where Blue was said to be. For 23 days now, he had been in his coma.

Sure enough, the gym leader was there in the bed. Red had mentally braced himself for the undoubtedly unpleasant sight he knew was coming but he didn't actually expect to get a little bit of a flashback upon seeing him after all this time. For a split second, he saw the blood all over him, the dust, the rubble... but the reality was quite different, although it was just slightly better.

Blue was laying on his back. His chest was bare which allowed them to clearly see the fading bruising all over his upper body. His shoulders no longer looked deformed like they did immediately after the accident; Red didn't know at that moment that he had dislocated both of them and had broken his two collarbones and that this was the reason why they looked so abnormal. Now, they had been popped back into their sockets and the immobility of the last weeks had probably helped the collarbones to repair faster. At least unconscious, Blue didn't have to suffer through the pain of that.

His exposed torso let them see that his entire midsection was encased in a thick and rigid corset-like back brace that kept his spine completely immobile and prevented any movement that would hurt his slowly healing spine. Similarly, his neck was immobilized by a brace too, except it was luckily just strained and not broken. The surgery was by no means a guarantee that everything would be alright. His legs had been the only part of his body not to suffer any substantial damage after the fall but they ironically were the one part of his body he could completely lose the function of.

The stab wound on his arm was not visible under the bandages but it was because of that injury in particular that Blue had nearly bled out of his life. Multiple transfusions had managed to save his life and now that there was a normal volume of blood back in his veins, he actually looked a bit more alive than he did back in the gym, which reassured Red greatly. He was no longer a sickly shade of white and his lips and fingernails were back to a relatively normal color.

There were small cuts all over his body but most of them were close to being healed. The gash on the back of his head, though it had been surgically closed, was still visible underneath the recently shaved hair around it in the back of the gym leader's skull.

Overall, it _looked_ pretty encouraging. There was a visible improvement but they couldn't be optimistic just yet. The worst of the damage was under that back brace and possibly inside of his head; not visible to the eye. Surviving was one thing; recovering was another. Blue was still far from healthy and he still relied on a respirator to pump oxygen through his tracheal intubation to survive during his coma. After more than three weeks of not moving at all, the gym leader looked noticeably thinner.

In his current condition, obviously, Blue couldn't eat. He was given all the nutrients necessary to his survival through his IV but that wasn't exactly something one could fatten up with. Blue had never been big to begin with but after three weeks of surviving with minimal nutritonnal intake, he had gotten about seven pounds lighter.

At the moment, Blue was in very deep unconsciousness; no stimuli from the outside world would be perceived by him; sighs, sounds... or touch and that last part was the whole point; to make it so that he couldn't feel the pain of a skull fracture, double clavicle fractures, a neck strain, a stab wound and a broken spine.

The nurse left them alone in the room after warning them to stay quiet so as not to disturb the other patients. A grave silence invaded the room as Margaret and Red stood next to the bed, unable to tear their eyes off of the fallen gym leader yet pained at the sight. For Red, it was especially difficult to bear to see his friend, who had saved his life, like this. In his peripheral vision, he saw his mother approach the head of the bed, almost mesmerized.

Margaret was watching Blue's pale and cut up face intently, like she was looking for something. It was painful to watch. A poor young man in his prime in such a state. The woman extended a very gentle and delicate hand towards the unconscious gym leader and very very carefully and lightly caressed his cheek, her fingers brushing a few strands of orange hair out of Blue's face. They both knew Blue couldn't feel the gesture or be aware of it in any way, yet Margaret wanted to do it and Red knew why. This was a gesture his mother had done for him many times as a child. She always did it to comfort him when he felt sad or hurt himself.

Margaret's eyes went to the IV bag connected to his arm, which surely contained the drugs keeping him in his comatose state, and she sighed pensively.

"I'm sure you fought well," she said out loud. "I know you woudn't go down without a fight. But you can rest now. Everyone needs to take a break once in a while. Take all the time you need and return. There's still people out there waiting for you."

Though they both knew her words would fall on deaf ears, Red was glad Margaret had said them. She was giving him a little hope that things would get better; that his 'brother' was gonna pull through this.

Red's thoughts wandered to the life-giving blood his friend had had injected in him, grateful towards whoever had donated it. He would have gladly given some of his to save Blue but it turned out they weren't compatible. With every minute that went by, the brunette was progressively coming to grips with the inevitability that everything was going to change from this point on.

If Blue had died, it would have left a giant gaping hole in his life. It was never really planned but he had become an enormous part of his life. They had gone through so much together. Blue saw him at his worst and he helped him get back on his feet. They'd been on the road for so long, it would have been difficult to go back to traveling on his own again. Viridian City would have lost its beloved gym leader.

He had a feeling professor Oak especially, would have had a very hard time living with himself if his grandson had died before he had a chance to reconcile with him. Red knew Blue didn't believe it, but he knew Samuel loved him as he loved his own departed son. And he was convinced Blue loved his grandfather as well. For some reason, they never got around to saying it to eachother. There was still that underlying conflict underneath the surface that had yet to be settled. And there was a chance it would never be. And though he wasn't proud of himself for thinking it, there was another, much more selfish reason for why he had been afraid to lose his best friend.

Red still lived with this deep, possibly irrationnal, fear of having another psychotic episode, somewhere in the back of his mind. He still remembered clearly the words of the psychiatrist all these years ago. Extreme stress or disturbing event could trigger a psychosis. Having suffered from a severe depression once in his life already, Red was more vulnerable than most to suffer a second one. His first episode had been a result of the anguish and anxiety he felt about his life after becoming the champion, the constant feeling of being unfulfilled and unfit to be called the best and the deep, profound loneliness he felt deep down.

Looking back at it with his grown adult eyes, Red could already tell all of this was nothing compared to what losing Blue would do to him. It wasn't just the thought of him dying; it was the thought of him basically being murdered by Team Rocket for getting unwillingly caught up in a story he never should have gotten involved in. It was the fact that Blue was suffering for nothing. He never got a chance to back down; to not be involved in this. The sheer injustice of it all made Red sick. He was deathly afraid his possible demise would sent him straight back to his darkest place. The second psychotic episode was always worse than the first, they said. And there would be no Blue to save him this time. He was afraid one day he would lose contact with the real world and have this disease take over him again with a much stronger hold than before.

But now that Blue's life was saved, what was gonna happen? His spine was broken. There was still a probability that he would never stand up or walk again after that, metal rods or not. For a guy as proud and independent as Blue, losing mobility and autonomy like that would be a huge blow and impossibly difficult for him to accept. There would be no more travelling, going anywhere the wind would take him. The freedom he loved so much; over. No more walking, no more running, no more swimming or climbing. No more training in martial arts. Would Blue really be able to pull through that, psychologically?

Red had the occasion to meet a few paraplegic people and people who had one or both legs amputated in his life and many of them lived happily with their handicap. But most of these people were satisfied with a normal life, with a family, a house, and were content sticking to their habits. Blue, though, never liked to stay in place for very long. He could disappear on one of his travels at any moment and he liked it that way. He had no one to answer to, not even his bosses and he liked it that way. However, being paralyzed from the waist down made a whole lot of everyday tasks complicated and it was especially hard during the adaptation period. Losing control over half of your body was a real mourning to go through. Would Blue be able to overcome something like this, he who despiced needing help? He who was so prideful? Red though about how Blue had gone into hiding everytime he felt bad about something or hurt himself. What would he do with something as bad as that? There was no way to know.

One thing was for sure, though. When Blue woke up, recovering from the physical wounds would be just half the challenge for him. Red promised himself he would do whatever he could to help him out, no matter how difficult Blue would be; and there was no doubt he would be.

Red contemplated the fallen gym leader's blank face. _You can't let yourself get taken out this easily. No matter how hard life got on you, you never surrendered. Don't let it end like this._

* * *

When Red got home, it was almost sunset. He barely got any sleep at all, lately. So much had happened so fast, he still struggled to process it all. Team Rocket's unexpected return, nearly being kidnapped in the middle of the night, the Viridian City gym blowing up, his best friend getting hurt so bad he almost died... Red had escaped Team Rocket's clutches almost unscathed, yet his friend, who was as good a pokémon trainer as he was and one of the toughest guy he knew as well as one hell of a fighter when he wanted to, barely escaped with his life. Red wished it was all a bad dream but he knew it wasn't.

The former champion had left the hospital after his visit to his comatose friend and a quick check up by a doctor for good measure and returned home.

Red stepped into the shower to wash off all that hospital smell off of him. He stayed there for a long time, his mind buzzing with a million thoughts at the same time. He felt he was still shaky and stressed; he was worried for his friend. When he got out, he took a moment to examine his bare body in the mirror, seeing two large faded bruises on his back; a result of getting hit with a stun rod twice. They didn't hurt all that much but Red considered himself lucky; electric shocks could easily result in cardiac arrest. Considering he'd been struck right between the shoulders, he had to be grateful his heart was healthy and could take the abuse. Still, it was kind of amazing that the bruising was still visible after three weeks.

Red opted to go to bed early with just his boxers on (it was pretty warm in Kanto this time of year) and lied right on top of the covers, staring distractedly at the ceiling, thinking. He thought about his pokémon. His Pikachu had recovered from his injury very well and quickly went back to being as lively as an elderly electric mouse could be.

He thought about Blue's pokémon. When the gym leader had been brought to the hospital, his pokéball belt had been removed and kept in a locker safely. Professor Oak had eventually retrieved it and brought it back to Pallet Town where all of them were healed back to perfect health. All five of them... Because there was one missing.

When Red saw in the news that a dead alakzam had been found in the remains of the gym, he instantly knew that it was Blue's. His prized psychic pokémon, one of the most powerful pokémon of its type the world had ever seen had been shot dead in the head, in the same way that Blue almost had been himself. There was no doubt that this was Giovanni's work. Pokémon's lives were as expendable as human ones were to him. He had sacrificed his kangaskhan and four of his grunts in his attempt to kill his successor without a second thought.

Alakazam's death was going to be extremely difficult for Blue to get over. His bond with his psychic pokémon had been extremely strong; he was the reason Red didn't kill his friend when he had decompensated during his psychotic episode. Blue and Alakazam could communicate telepathically which was something only a handfuly of trainers were capable of accomplishing with a psychic pokémon. Training an Abra into its fully evolved form took a lot of patience and care. It would be a huge loss for Blue. Red could only imagine how hard it would hurt to lose one of his pokémon.

Red was, by nature, a pretty forgiving and understanding person. He was a firm believer that most people who did bad things around them had a reason to. Not that evil acts could be forgiven so easily but there were few people who were true sadists; people who inflicted pain on others for pure entertainment; real monsters. A lot of the people he'd known who did bad things to him had a history of abandonment, violence or were marginalized by society for some reason or other. But Giovanni was a different kind. There was a complete absence of emotion or remorse, no matter how horrible the deeds he commited. For a man to remain completely unnaffected by the suffering of another living, sentient being meant that he was a perfectly cold-hearted monster. Giovanni didn't do this because he was issued from a violent or difficult background. He did it for money. In Red's eyes, that was the mark of a truly evil person.

Although many years ago, Red would have found some similarities between Giovanni and Blue; their arrogance, their selfishness and their using of their pokémon for personnal gain, at his core, Blue was nothing like the boss of Team Rocket. Blue did have a heart, albeit a closely guarded one.

Back when they were kids, Blue was always mean to him and seemed to derive pleasure from humiliating him and making him feel bad about himself. As a child, Red didn't really understand why he acted the way he did. He simply figured some people were bad and that was just a thing that he had to learn to deal with. Blue hated him for some reason and that was just it. But as he got older and more mature, it became more and more evident that his insufferable neighbor was lashing out at others to vent his frustration towards his own life. People who were unhappy were always looking to make other people even more miserable to make themselves feel better. Blue was an orphan, living with an unloving guardian who didn't acknowledge him and was constantly being compared to another. Looking back with his adult eyes, Red knew now that Blue never really hated him. It was his grandfather that he hated. He hated him for always giving the attention he sought to his rival. Red was just an easy target who rarely fought back that he could vent his anger on.

Blue was never a bad person. Sure, he wasn't perfect but his attitude was just the result of the difficult life he had and in retrospect, he hadn't really been that bad. There was a line he never crossed. It didn't take all that much to make his true self resurface. It was amazing what just a little kindness and understanding could do to someone who had so little of it. Just one act of disinterested generosity could give a meaning to a life.

Blue had risked his life to save his. Red had risked his for the same purpose. Their fates would be forever intertwined.

* * *

 _This chapter has a weird pace, I know, but it's hard to convey the slow passage of time while at the same time not writing a bunch of scenes that have no point and drag on for far too long._

 _I didn't think it was relevant to put a whole lot of attention on the actual procedure Blue went through. What goes on before and after is more important and there's only so much you can write about a character who isn't conscious so this is why there's a weirdly placed time skip in this chapter. I did it to spare you guys a bunch of uneventful scenes in an already decently long chapter._

 _(I actually watched a video of the actual surgery, with the bolting of the metal rods because I like to know what I'm talking about and geez... it's not for the faint of heart. And you'd think surgery is this delicate precise task but I tell you, sometimes, orthpedic surgery it looks like carpentry. It's kind of fascinating to look at if you don't get grossed out by this sort of thing)_

 _You know what I like? It's that some of you guys actually got to know my version of Blue to the point where you are able to anticipate his reactions to some events. I'm really curious whether one of you will actually be able to guess how this story ends. There's a twist you have yet to see so it may be too early to guess the ending yet._

 _In the meantime, chapter 30 is only half done. I'm behind schedule and I gotta get back into it before I run out of steam._


	30. Iron rusts

_Yes guys. Here is chapter 30._

 _Isn't Red the sweetest little thing? I made him even more adorable than I'd planned!_

 _And I know some of you are surprised but yes, there is another major twist to this story coming. I won't spoil it but know that, as of now there are still about 7 other chapters planned for this story. A lot of things can happen in seven chapters..._

* * *

 **Chapter 30: Iron rusts**

There was a noise. A faint, distant noise that felt like it had made its way to him after travelling a very long distance. It sounded like everything and nothing at the same time.

It resounded again at some point, slightly closer but still muffled and incomprehensible. He started to feel something. A dull ache, the location of it he couldn't pinpoint. The noise came again and it sounded like... words? Was someone talking? There was a faint smell lingering around. Something like a cleaning product.

Slowly, one by one, new sensations came to him. The noise got closer and closer, clearer and clearer and eventually, his clouded mind could tell it was calling to him. It was calling... his name?

He felt the pain getting a little more intense. He felt a soft surface beneath him. He was lying down on something soft. He felt the air entering and leaving his lungs. The vague generalized pain became more and more precise. Somewhere he recognized as his forearm; somewhere he recognized as the back of his head; his lower back... There was a tingling sensation, like a multitude of small electric shocks, in his legs.

Startled by the sudden discomfort, he tried to seek refuge back into the dark abyss but something was pulling him towards the surface. Towards the light.

"Blue!" a voice called his name. Yes... That was his name. He could hear it now, though it was still slightly muffled, he could tell someone was talking to him. He felt a light tap on his cheek. He tried to ignore it. He felt the tap again, persistant and annoying. _Leave me alone..._ was the first coherent thought he managed to have.

"Blue!" the voice kept repeating, someone still tapping his cheek.

Blue tried to swat it away but a sharp vivid pain in his shoulder stopped him in his tracks. He tried with his other arm, with the same result. He tried to move his head away from the annoyance but there was something around his neck that prevented its movement. _What the hell!?_

Blue finally opened his eyes slowly, the white light momentarily blinding him. Confused and disoriented, he felt like there was a noose around his neck, choking him. He flexed his fingers, feeling them tighten around sheets of some sort, trying to regain the control of his body and he eventually managed to lift at least his forearms to try and tear what his foggy mind perceived as an immediate threat to his life: whatever it was that was wrapped around his neck. To his horror, his fingers met with smooth plastic his fingertips slid uselessly on; nothing he was able to grasp.

Blinded and working himself into a panic, Blue tried to sit up but again, there was something rigid encasing his midsection, pinning him down. His back felt stiff, as if he'd been lying down on concrete for a very long time. Breathing erratically, pain burning across his whole torso, Blue tried to struggle against the invisible hold. He tried to kick his legs but they wouldn't move. He could feel nothing except the tingling sensation. Now completely terrified and unable to comprehend the situation he was in, Blue tried to scream but nothing came out but a small whimper. His fingers still uselessly slipping on the smooth surface of the thing holding his neck, he was stuck in a state of primal fear. He felt like he was drowning.

When hands grabbed his arms and pinned them down to his sides, it did nothing to help calm him down and despite the pain, he struggled twice as hard against the restraints.

"Shhh! Calm down, sir! Calm down! Everything's fine! You're safe! Calm down! You have to stop moving!"

The words, he heard, but none of them was being processed by his brain. He was completely freaked out when the only part of his body that could move was immobilized by unknown entities. _Let go of me!_ He tried to shout but again, nothing came out except a whimper.

The white light that was blinding him slowly faded and was replaced by two unfamiliar faces, just a few centimeters from his face. They were talking to him, staring at him, saying things he couldn't understand.

It took a full minute before the fog clouding his mind somewhat dissipated and he was able to process the information his senses brought to him. The two people in front of him were women. They wore turquoise uniforms. They looked like nurses. The room around him was all white. They were telling him to calm down and that everything was fine. He realized that the thing holding his neck wasn't actually choking him, though it really was keeping it immobilized. His breathing slowed down progressively and he stopped struggling.

"That's it. Calm down... Take a deep breath. Everything's alright. You're safe."

Blue concentrated with all he could muster on the nurse's words and breathed deeply.

He was in a medical establishment of some sort. A hospital? But when did he get here? And why? Had something happened to him?

The gym leader was still completely confused as to why he found himself where he was. He didn't remember getting hurt. He tried to remember for a moment; what was the last thing he recalled?

It took a moment but he seemed to recall the crowd that had come to see his return as a gym leader. And then... his grandfather speaking with him, asking for his forgiveness. After that... his troubles finding sleep and his reminiscing about painful memories. He remembered getting up the next morning and having an overall uneventful day... but after that, his memory was completely blank. Try as he might, he couldn't remember a single thing that happened between that day and his awakening in this strange unknown place.

His eyes landed on one of the nurses who was standing in front of him. They had both let go of his arms, seeing as he had stopped struggling. He opened his mouth to talk but his voice remained stuck. The nurse seemed to understand what he was trying to do and leaned in a little closer so she could better hear what he was trying to say. He cleared his throat and tried again.

" _Where... am I_?" he managed to squeak out but not loud enough for anyone to hear. "Where...?" he managed to say a little louder. It was barely above a whisper but it was enough for the nurse to understand.

"You are in Viridian City, in the general hospital. This is the Intensive Care Unit. You've just awakened from a coma. You're very confused but its perfectly normal. The doctor will see you shortly."

And that was all the nurse was willing to tell him as he watched her in his peripheral vision while she busied herself checking his pulse, his pressure and other stuff he couldn't see because his head was immobilized and he could only really look at the ceiling. The other nurse left the room.

Blue tried to take in all the information he could with just moving his gaze around, which wasn't much. He saw, somewhere on his left, an IV bag which he assumed was connected to his arm. He saw a few monitors and other types of machines, none of which he was really familiar with. There was a window on his right which bathed the room in daylight but he couldn't really tell what kind of weather there was outside.

Everything hurt. It felt like he had gotten a savage beat up from a profesionnal boxer. He had the most horrible migraine. The headache was so bad, he could hardly concentrate on any thought for more than a few seconds. One moment his vision was normal, the next it'd grow blurry and double. His right arm was particularly painful, like some foreign object was stuck in it. But his back... his back was the worst. It was a difficult pain to describe. Multiple shards of glass had been stabbed into a very specific spot in his lower back. That's what it felt like. Every breath he took, he would feel those shards of glass punishing his effort to stay alive. The thing encasing his midsection was compressing his stomach, making him have to work harder to breathe in.

The only part of his body that didn't hurt was his legs. Because he couldn't feel them. He could still feel the matress underneath his pelvis just a bit but his legs... all he could feel was that annoying tingling sensation. He tried to move his toes. Nothing. His ankles. Nothing. Bending his knees? Nothing. In the state he was in, he really couldn't figure out why that was. The only explanation he could think of was that his legs were gone. What if they had amputated his legs because of whatever reason he was in this hospital? The mere thought terrified him. He wanted to look down at his body to figure out what was going on but both his neck and torso were immobilized so he couldn't see anything.

The nurses words lingered in his mind. 'You've just awaked from a coma.' He had been in a coma? But why? And for how long?

The uncertainty; the ignorance he was floating in was driving him crazy. What happened to him? Why was he in a hospital? Why was he in a coma? How long had he been out? For all he knew, it could have been a single day... or a whole decade. Even though he knew he hadn't asked the nurse for all these answers (because he couldn't), he was getting mad and frustrated from it.

"What... What happened?" he tried to utter, though he couldn't still quite find his voice who had apparently gone unused for a while.

Either the nurse ignored him or didn't hear him, but she left the room without answering him. _Damnit..._ He tried calling out for her but all that came out was a groan.

Blue sighed in frustration. He couldn't move. He was in great pain and he didn't know what happened to him or why it did. He was powerless in this bed; in this tiny white room with a bunch of machines he didn't know hooked up to him like he was some defective robot.

The injured gym leader concentrated on his breathing and closed his eyes.

 _What happened to me...? Why does everything hurt so much? I don't understand..._

* * *

When a labcoat wearing man he didn't know walked into his room, Blue couldn't really do anything except stare at him. His migraine was still excessively painful and it was difficult to move. He had a hard time talking because he couldn't find his voice. However, he was attentive. This could be the man who was finally going to explain what he was doing here.

"Mr Oak," the man greeted him. "Can you hear me?" Blue resisted the urge to roll his eyes with impatience and nodded. "I am Dr Spencer, the neurologist. I've been overseeing your recovery ever since you were brought here. I'm sure you are very confused and that you have a lot of questions but I must ask you to take it slowly. We don't want you to strain yourself. You've been through a lot."

Blue didn't reply but he was getting impatient. He wanted them to stop dancing around it and just tell him what was going on.

"Right now, it is september 26th. 44 days ago, you were injured in a serious accident and we had to put you in a coma to help you recover."

The gym leader already was told he'd been in a coma but now he had a precise idea of how long he was out. 44 days... that was a very long time to be unconscious. However, he still had no clue what that 'serious accident' was. He tried again to retrace his steps up until the last thing he remembered prior to his awakening but he couldn't figure out any reason why he would have been injured.

Without really explaining anything, the doctor leaned in close to his face and flashed a tiny flashlight into his eyes, carefully observing the contraction of his irises. Eyeing the man's reaction, Blue let him do his thing even though he was growing increasingly impatient. He did a bunch of simple tests, most of which involved testing his eyesight but he also tested his reflexes and examined various parts of his body.

"What... happened... to me," he tried to utter when the doctor seemed to finish his examination. It was not ideal but it was enough for the doctor to comprehend. His expression was serious. Whatever he was about to tell him, it wouldn't be pleasant.

"There was an explosion in your gym and you fell down an entire floor. You hit your head very hard; so hard your skull was fractured. As you can probably deduce, your neck was hurt too and you dislocated both your shoulders and broke you clavicles."

An explosion... in his gym? But how? Why? What in the world?

So he had taken a big fall and that was why he was hurt so badly. But why couldn't he feel his legs?

"My legs... my legs..." he tried gesturing towards his legs to clarify what he was asking. He still couldn't look down at himself so he had no legitimate idea if his lower limbs were even there anymore. He tried to feel around with his hands but strangely, he couldn't even feel his own touch on his thighs. The doctor seemed to understand again.

"Yes... I suppose you can't feel your legs, correct?"

Blue nodded as much as his neck brace would allow. He watched carefully as the man pulled a small metallic pointy object from his pocket; not a syringe, it just looked like a large needle. Blue couldn't see what he was doing exactly but he could tell in his peripheral vision that he seemed to be grabbing at his left foot.

"Do you feel anything when I poke your foot with this?" the man asked.

Blue concentrated hard... No, he couldn't feel anything. The doctor poked his other foot but still, he felt nothing. The man then tried again with his left foot, letting him know that he was poking hard enough to hurt a normal person and... Blue felt something. It was faint. It was almost nonexistant but he swore he could feel the pointy object on the sole of his foot. The doctor repeated the test with his other foot with the same result.

"Do you happen to feel a tingling sensation in your legs?"

Blue nodded again. Ever since he woke up, he hadn't been able to move his lower body at all and he couldn't feel anything until that hard poke; anything except that tingling sensation that would never leave him. It felt like a thousand very small electric shocks were perpetually running through his muscles.

Now he was getting somewhere. The doctor seemed to know what was going on without even needing an explanation.

"Mr Oak, I am sorry to inform you that you have fractured your L2 vertebra; that is your second lumbar vertebra. The reason you can't move your legs is because you have become partially paralyzed as a result of that injury."

Up to this point, Blue had told himself that it wasn't so bad. Broken clavicles, dislocated shoulders, strained neck and even a skull fracture; none of it sounded that terrible. Sure, they hurt, but none of this sounded like it wouldn't heal eventually. Even his skull fracture. He didn't feel any different. He still remembered everything about his life up to that accident. It didn't look like he'd suffered any serious brain damage from that. But then, the doctor said he had broken his back...

He was paralyzed? From the waist down? That couldn't be! There had to be some sort of mistake! He just couldn't move his legs because he was so weak... not because he couldn't physically do it anymore! No way! That was impossible!

"There is still a chance you might recover the use of your legs. You can still feel when I poke you very hard with a needle. The tingling sensation means that the nervous connections were not completely severed which means that there is a chance they could be repaired. Now, I'm saying there's a chance; it is by no means a certainty. But it's possible to repair those connections and to learn to walk again with rehabilitation and exercise."

Blue was still struggling to digest the information he was given but the doctor didn't give him the time to do it.

"We've had to operate on your back during your coma to repair your fracture. You've had two metal rods bolted into your spine and they're going to allow you to at least sit up eventually but it's too early yet. We want to make sure the injury doesn't get worse so you must lie down for the moment. Now, please rest all you need. It's perfectly normal to be weak after waking up from a coma. If you need anything, just ring the bell and a nurse will come to your aid. I must leave you for now."

And just like that, the man left. He seemed to be perfectly aware that the news he just gave him were difficult to accept but apparently, he went for the 'make-it-quick and it will stop hurting faster' approach. Blue was left alone in his bed, unable to move and barely understanding the situation he was in.

A surge of emotion overcame him, too wild to contain. Him? Paralyzed? No way!

The gym leader lifted up his forearms (so as not to strain his shoulders) and tried to feel around. He could feel the brace encasing his midsection. He could feel the one around his neck too. He couldn't feel anything below the belt except for that damn tingling. Blue tried with everything he could to get his legs to move; or even just his toes but nothing happened. An unfamiliar anxiety took hold of him.

This couldn't happen. Not to him! He couldn't spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair like some useless old man!

Blue refused to accept that. His fingers tightly gripped the sheets and he tried to push himself up into a sitting position. He pushed with his hands to straighten up, even though his shoulders hurt like hell, even though the back and neck brace kept him stiff as a board and complicated his job. He thought he got pretty far until a pain so great it felt like a spear stabbed him in the back stopped him dead in his tracks and he fell back down on the matress. He would have screamed but the air got stuck in his throat. He could actually feel _something_ in his back. Those metal rods... He felt their presence _inside_ of his back. Between them, the fracture was torturing him. It was a pain unlike anything he ever felt before. It was worse than gettting stabbed because it never relented. It kept on hurting with an intensity that never diminished.

Out of pure stubbornness, the gym leader tried to sit up again but his weakened muscles wouldn't let him get very far. Defeated, he let his broken body fall back on the matress again. _No..._

This wasn't real... This was a nightmare. How did he lose complete control over his life without remembering why?

Between this generalized pain, the horrible migraine and the complete incapacity to move, Blue burst out crying like a baby.

He was completely aware that this was nothing like him; that being so emotionnal was not his usual way of being and that even when he felt really bad, he didn't completely lose it like that. He knew his reaction was completely exaggerated. He was a grown man; he didn't just burst into tears like that but he couldn't help it, he couldn't stop it. It was completely uncontrollable. He was just glad no one was around to see it.

* * *

Red was as relieved as he was anxious when he heard that his friend had finally woken up (or more acurately, was awakened) from his coma. He would finally find out if the concussion had any serious effects on him and also, if he could ever hope to walk again.

The former champion had his Charizard fly him to Viridian City swiftly and he was let into the ICU after he announced his presence to the staff.

When he went to walk into the room, he had a moment of hesitation and stopped in the doorframe. Blue was still in his bed, lying on his back. Nothing had really changed since his last visit... except for the fact that his eyes were open! That was the most encouraging thing he'd seen in a long time.

Blue didn't notice him right away but just as Red was about to let his presence be known, his friend's hazel eyes locked-in on him. For a few seconds, his expression was blank, as if he wasn't really processing what he was seeing, and the brunette actually got worried for a moment. Had he gone blind from the shock to the skull? Or did he lose his memory or any higher cognitive fuction? But then...

"Red," the gym leader whispered quietly, his voice hoarse.

The former champion felt a good deal of tension leave his shoulders. His friend wasn't blind... and he remembered him!

Red let himself into the room and, with the help of his crutches, walked up to the bed, smiling amicably to his injured friend. Blue looked thin and weak. His eyes were red and puffy. He was still a far cry from the ruthless arrogant pokémon trainer he used to be, but seeing him alive, with a mind that at least seemingly functionned normally was an enormous relief from the constant anguish Red had been living in for the past 44 days.

Blue didn't quite return his smile but he seemed calm. "What's up with the crutches?" he inquired with a pale imitation of his usual snarkiness. The gym leader, despite the fact that he couldn't move his head in his direction, was observing him intently.

"Are you kidding me?" Red almost laughed. "Never mind that! You've been out for a month and a half! I'm not the one you need to worry about!"

Blue raised a curious eyebrow but then snorted dismissively. So far, he didn't act much different than he ususally did, which was a good sign. "I'd apologize, except that I have no freaking idea of what I'm doing here and why..."

"How are you feeling?" Red asked, concerned.

The gym leader took a while to respond. While he looked pretty good so far, the mention of his physical state made his expression grow a lot more somber.

"The doctor told me I have a cracked skull and a broken back... and a bunch of other bullshit. I can't move my legs... Told me I might never walk again... Can you believe it, Red? I just woke up like this and I have no idea why. And my head is... my head is killing me."

Red nodded gravely. Even though things didn't turn out into quite the worst case scenario, the prognostic was still pretty grim regarding his overall quality of life for the foreseeable future.

He could only imagine how confusing and unsettling it must be to wake up suddenly in a hospital with serious injuries and no recollection of how it happened. Blue was still too weak to react strongly to the terrible news he was given; he probably didn't fully realize it yet but the coming weeks would be difficult, he just knew. Denial was always the first step, they said.

The gym leader kept watching him and his eyes eventually narrowed suspiciously.

"You know something... don't you?" he interrogated. When Red didn't answer right away, because he was unsure if bringing it up was a good idea right after his awakening from a 44 days coma, Blue slapped his hands on the matress and immediately grew very angry. Red could tell he would get up if he could.

"You know why this happened to me! Why won't you tell me!? Why won't anyone tell me what the hell is going on! My fuckin spine is busted and nobody bothers to tell me why!"

The blonde trainer was getting so angry that his previsouly weak and quiet voice was almost raised to a yell. Red was quite puzzled by his outburst. While it was true that Blue was infamously temperamental, he didn't explode in a rage for just any reason. When he did, it almost always had something to do with his difficult family problems. The rest of the time, he was actually very controlled and impassive, even when someone was deliberately provoking him. Even though his current situation was understandably stressful, the intensity of his reaction, as well as his impatience, was completely disproportionate to the situation at hand. Red knew his friend well enough to know that this was a bizarre behavior but he didn't let his worry show and kept calm so as not to fan the flames.

"I know some of it, yes," he admitted. "But I don't know the whole thing."

Clearly, Blue didn't remember any of what happened at all; not Giovanni, not the battle he almost certainly had with him, the death of his pokémon or the explosion. Lying to him was not something he would be comfortable with, but the former champion was still very unsure whether now was a good time to tell Blue all that happened leading up to his hospitalization, including the death of his beloved Alakazam... Besides, Red himself didn't know everything, for he had only arrived on the scene after the explosion. He could only make suppositions about what happened during Blue's confrontation with Giovanni.

The brunette opted to tell him about the events he actually witnessed, leaving out the part with Alakazam but explaining as best as he could the kidnapping attempt he escaped, the standoff with Giovanni and how close Blue had come to getting a bullet through the skull, the reason he was walking with crutches, and the way he finally put an end to the criminal mastermind's career with the help of his Blastoise. Red pretended not to know anything else but his cooperation seemed to calm his friend down enough to bring him back to a normal state.

"Team Rocket... did this to me?" he asked, sadness suddenly darkening his gaze. "And all that for that crazy monster they had?"

Red lowered his head. "I'm afraid so."

"Did they get it back?"

"No. It's still safely locked away where it was."

Blue paused for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. Eventually, he looked up at Red again.

"They shot you in the leg?" he asked with something akin to concern.

"Well, Giovanni did. But I'll be alright. It's just a flesh wound. In a few months, all that'll remain is a scar. I was very lucky."

The gym leader seemed to get more and more sad-looking, which again, was a very odd thing for him to do in these circumstances.

"So... you saved my life?" he asked in a whisper.

"I couldn't have done it without your Blastoise," Red responded, not quite comfortable taking all the credit even though saving his friend's life was something he'd wanted to do for a long time to repay him for saving his.

"Why?" came the very unexpected question afterwards.

The former champion's eyes widened in surprise. He wasn't sure what this question was supposed to mean. Did Blue not want his life being saved?

"What do you mean 'why'?," Red asked in an almost scolding way. "I did it because you're my friend. And because you would have done the same for me. As a matter of fact, you already did."

He could hardly believe Blue wasn't aware that having eachother's back was something friends did. They'd been like brothers for years, now! It was still unclear what the meaning of that question was but Red began to suspect it wasn't because Blue wished he didn't. It could be because he wasn't quite used to selfless acts of kindness in general. Not to mention the fact that Blue was probably still a little confused and unstable. He seemed particularly emotionnal, right now.

"Blue, I'm sorry you got caught up in this mess," Red said after a moment of silence. "You had nothing to do with this."

His friend remained silent, staring blankly at the ceiling.

" I wish I knew what Team Rocket was gonna do... I could have prevented all of this-"

"Don't give yourself too much credit, Papenbrook," Blue interrupted him. "Team Rocket are experts at ruining people's lives; that's what they do. You know you can't save everyone, right?"

Red nodded sadly, knowing that putting this much pressure on himself wouldn't do him any good. It helped calm his mind knowing that his friend wasn't angry at him for not preventing the accident.

"I hope my pokémon are all right," Blue thought out loud. "I wish I could see them but I can't get up from this damned bed."

"I promised your Blastoise that he would get to see you," Red told him. "He's been real worried about you."

He was glad to see a small smile appear on his friend's lips. It was faint, but it meant a whole lot more than it seemed. However, it was gone just a few seconds later when his face scrunched up in pain.

"What's wrong?" Red asked worriedly.

"Nothing... It's just that... Everything hurts so much. My head... and my back. It's... a little hard... to concentrate."

"Do you want me to get the nurse?"

Blue didn't answer his question. It was like he didn't hear him. He just laid there, struggling with what looked to be a particularly nasty migraine.

"I'm gonna get some help. Just a minute."

He didn't give his prideful friend a chance to protest and he limped out of the room.

* * *

"Is he doing all right?" one of the nurses asked him when she saw him near the nurse's station.

"Well, he's able to hold a conversation. He seems to remember everything about his life except for the accident itself."

"This is nothing to worry about. It's called selective amnesia. It's very very common for trauma patients. They often won't remember how they got their injuries."

Maybe it was preferable. Maybe it was better if Blue didn't remember how it happened. It might be easier to get over if he didn't.

"Does it mean he won't _ever_ remember what happened?"

"He might get some flashbacks eventually; he might not... If he does, it can happen weeks or even years after the incident. Any random thing can trigger his memory but it might never happen. Really, all that matters is that he didn't lose any long-term memory."

"I suppose so," Red mumbled, still not forgetting that the Alakazam story would come up eventually. There was no way Blue had forgotten his beloved psychic. The question was, would it be better to wait until he was more emotionnally stable to tell him? If Blue happened to remember or find out what happened to his pokémon before Red revealed it to him, he would probably freak out from what he might interpret as a betrayal for hiding it from him. He was already stressed enough as he was. Speaking of which...

"I noticed he was a lot more... emotionnal than he usually is."

The nurse explained to him that this was another common side effect of a concussion. People who suffered traumatic brain injuries often had wildly changing moods and exaggerated reactions of anger, sadness or even joy sometimes. She told him to expect that, along with confusion, trouble with short-term memory and difficulty concentrating with his friend. Usually, these symptoms disappeared in a matter of weeks. The nurse told him not to worry too much. Blue was young, was physically fit and had no other underlying medical condition; he had the best odds of recovery anyone could hope for.

For the moment being, though, Blue was tormented by horrible migraines and generalized pain, so Red asked the nurse if there was some medication they could give him to relieve some of the suffering.

So far, things looked relatively encouraging. Blue seemed to recover as well as could be. The future, though, was still uncertain. What he gonna be able to walk again? Would he be able to go back to being a gym leader, or even just an ordinary trainer? Was his body gonna fail him? Or would his mind do?


	31. A life so changed

_Guys! Guys... Where have you been? I haven't heard from any of you at all this past week :(  
_

 _Goddamn this was hard to get done. I've spent two weeks on this chapter, barely making any progress because I didn't know how to convey the story but then I started thinking about it while walking my dog and I had the idea to write just the dialogue and nothing else as a way to kick my brain into action. Then I started writing the stuff around the dialogue and then going over a second, third and fourth time to perfect it._

 _I hope to hear from you in this one. A bunch of important stuff happens._

* * *

 **Chapter 31: A life so changed**

Samuel walked quietly, almost timidly, into the room. It was his first time seeing his grandson awake since their conversation at his now-destroyed gym.

It was a huge relief to know he was conscious again. He had come as soon as he'd heard the news of his awakening. He and Red had shared a few words before his visit, so that the old researcher had a better idea of what to expect upon coming here. The professor prefered letting the former champion visit him first, to gauge the state Blue was in before he, a person he might not react so well to, walked in. An unpredictable mood coupled with an unpredictable reaction regarding his presence here were what he needed to get ready for. The elder Oak expected it to be difficult even though he still hoped it wouldn't be. It all depended on whether Blue had decided to forgive him or not following their last encounter, provided that he even remembered it.

As he stood near the doorframe, Blue appeared to be sleeping but Samuel's presence was noticed as soon as he took a step closer to the bed. His grandson's tired eyes found his immediately.

"Hey, Blue," Samuel blurted out in a pathetic attempt to break the tension.

The young trainer just stared at him without responding, his eyebrows slightly furrowed in what was perhaps a little bit of mistrust. Unsure of what to do, the older man just improvised to see what was gonna happen.

"How are you feeling?"

Blue blinked, his expression losing some of its severity. He didn't look flat-out hostile to his presence, at least. Samuel was actually curious how he was gonna answer, wondering if the concussion had any harmful effects on his capacities.

"I've been better," he eventually answered with a scratchy voice. He looked alert and not confused. He could hear and see him just fine and was coherent. Despite the negative response, it was pretty encouraging.

The gym leader averted his gaze and straight out looked away in the opposite direction. If he wasn't hostile, he definetly wasn't welcoming either.

Samuel approached slowly and sat down on the chair next to the bed, trying not to think of his grandson's injuries. Not only did he not want to dwell on it but he knew Blue would not accept pity, especially from him. Acting normal was probably the best course of action, he decided.

"Blue..." he said quietly in a way that was not demanding.

The youngest Oak seemed determined to ignore him, hoping he would go away, since he couldn't exactly leave himself but his elder would have none of that. No more running away.

He gently grabbed Blue's left wrist. The latter immediately redirected his attention to him and reflexively tried to pull away as if the touch burned him. The weak tug he gave wasn't enough to get Samuel to let go, though.

The old researcher looked down calmly at the jagged scar that ran across his grandson's knuckles. This particular one, who was now just one of the many Blue sported, seemed older than the rest. It told of a story that preceded this life-changing accident. Samuel thought for a moment what this was about and when he noticed Blue dodging eye contact and his obvious reluctance, he understood what this scar represented.

Not so long ago, the youngest Oak would have worn this scar like a badge of honor but now, it was an eternal reminder of what was perhaps his biggest fault, forever branded on his hand. The one that cost him his sister's love and respect.

Blue looked miserable enough as it was, but seeing the shame darken his eyes even more as his grandfather guessed the origins of the mark... It was like he was afraid the old man would see the ugly truth behind it; the way he drank himself into oblivion for days, the way he nearly accidentally killed himself by neglecting a quickly developping infection, the way he realised how much of an idiot he was.

"You don't have to be ashamed," the elder Oak assured him.

Blue finally pulled his hand free, avoiding his gaze. "I didn't want you to see me like this," he let out in one of the rare times he ever showed vulnerability. That was exactly like him to be embarassed by his weakened state even after a building came crashing down on him, nearly bleeding out and spending 44 days in a coma.

"So what, if you're not invincible?" Samuel said gently. "Don't you remember how many times I had to patch you up when you were little because you always got yourself in trouble?" The old man snickered at all the memories that came back to him. "That time when you fell down a tree and twisted your ankle... I had to carry you back home. How many cuts and scratches _did_ I patch up? I've lost count."

While he definetly couldn't remember all the times he hurt himself as a kid, Blue did remember that his grandfather had always been there to take care of him afterwards. Those were memories of times long past, before things started to sour between them. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Samuel had still been the closest thing he ever had to a father, growing up.

"Why do you keep coming back?" he asked, almost hurt.

"Why do you think?" Samuel said back calmly, despite the sorrow this question caused him.

"I told you. You don't need to pretend anymore. You can stop trying to make believe."

There was that old pushing away reflex again. "No, Blue. I'm not lying. I'm not pretending. I know it's hard for you, but please. You have to believe me."

His grandson kept staring at him skeptically.

"I thought I'd lost you," Samuel expressed. "I though you weren't gonna make it. I was terrified of losing you before I could show you how much I care. I was afraid I would lose you, just like I lost your father."

The youngest Oak's features softened ever so slightly. For some reason, he never really thought of looking at the tragedy of his parent's loss from his grandfather's perspective until now. Samuel, he had eventually learned, had had a somewhat similar reflex to him when Allan and Sarah met their end. He never spoke about it. He didn't look back and tried to live the rest of his life without remaining trapped in a pit of sadness forever. He too, never got to tell Allan how much he loved him before he passed away. He too, had many regrets and wished things had gone differently. And even though Blue had no kids of his own, he could still get a pretty good idea of how hard it must have been for the man to lose his son in such a tragic and unfair way, what's more, not that long after losing his wife. Now, the old man wasn't his father and he wasn't his son but that hadn't changed the fact that he saw Samuel as his father figure and that Samuel saw him somewhat like a new son. Like a second chance at being a father.

Here, bedridden and with the complete impossibility of bailing on the conversation, he really had no choice but to listen. The old man looked so sincere, but looks were deceiving. It was like finding fresh water in the desert. It was too good to be true and the oasis could turn into quicksand. He was silent for a long moment before he said:

"Do you even know _why_ it's so hard for me to believe you?" he then asked, more tired than angry.

"I know I really hurt you before-"

"No, that's not the reason," he interrupted the older man immediately. "It's because you're trying to force it because you feel guilty. I know you don't really like me. You don't really like the kind of person I am and the fact that you could never mold me into something you deem better. And I'm supposed to believe you changed your mind about me overnight? Why did you wait seven years to tell me that?"

Samuel really didn't know what to respond to that. He should have known but for some reason, he didn't realize until now that it was much harder to coax his adult, very smart and perceptive grandson into trusting him, than it would have been for his hotheaded child self who was still yearning for attention and recognition. Blue knew, now, that adults weren't always right and that they didn't always know what they were doing and now, he saw right through him how uncertain he was about his feelings towards him. In fact, he figured it out even before he himself did.

He really did feel guilty about the way he treated his grandson for most of his life, especially after his title loss at the Indigo Plateau but did his perception of him really change that much? Blue did change for the better since his tumultuous teenage years but that didn't mean he was what he wanted him to be. What if Blue forgave him? What then? It wasn't like they would magically get along. They were so different and were both the antithesis of eachother's idea of a good person.

Samuel valued kindness and selflessness. Still, in his grandson's eyes, he was a tyrant. A man who refused to accept people's imperfections and rejected them. He was an authority figure both in his work and in his home and expected his underlings to follow his rules without protest. Blue, to him, was the piece that, no matter how hard he tried to figuratively beat it into the mold, would never fit into his picture. And he wasn't an employee or even one of his kids. He had no reason, professionnal, legal or social, to obey him and it always bothered him. He just either never realised it, or never admitted it to himself. Did he really want to fix things with him because he wanted his grandson to be a part of his life, despite the fact that he lived pretty well without him for years? Or was it just like he was saying; that he was doing this to make himself feel better? Samuel honestly didn't know the answer, but his grandson looked like he did.

"Don't try to make me believe like you didn't mean what you said," Blue continued, sternly but still thankfully calm. "We both know you said exactly what you were thinking, when I lost my title. Don't be a coward, trying to pass it off as a thing you said just because you were pissed off. If you want me to trust you, then man up, and admit that you were sincere when you told me that you wanted to hand me over to some strangers when mom and dad died. That you were sincere when you said you were unable to raise me into a 'decent human being', whatever that's supposed to mean. And that I deserved to lose my title because I didn't have what it takes to be a champ."

Blue's glare was unforgiving. He may have been almost completely immobilised, weak and so badly injured anyone could easily overpower him, at the moment, he was so strong Samuel could only bow in shame because he was right. He really did mean what he said at the time, as cruel as that was. His grandson infuriated him so much when he was a kid because of his arrogance and his disobedient and violent tendencies. He was completely devoid of empathy for others, especially his pokémon. His team was powerful and skillfully trained and handled by their clever trainer but they feared him because he punished their defeats instead of rewarding their victories. They were nothing more than tools in his rise to glory in his eyes and this attitude towards his fellow living creatures was something Samuel fundamentally disapproved; he, who was a researcher specializing in the human-pokémon bond.

When he began hearing tales of his grandson's success as a gym leader, he didn't quite believe yet that it had changed. However, after a decade long career with only one loss (against a champion, no less) to his record, versus thousands of wins, he told himself he couldn't be this sucessful if he hadn't learned anything new. For him to do that, he had to have admitted that he didn't know it all already; he had to have changed.

And Samuel saw that when he witnessed him crushing fourteen challengers in a row that day, not long before the accident. His pokémon were stronger, prouder and more confident than they ever were, now sharing their master's strength and confidence, instead of fearing it. They no longer feared him. They were counting on him to lead them to victory. That was so different from the Blue that lost to his rival on his first and only title defense! And was there a stronger proof to be found of the strength of their bond than having his Blastoise go against the taboo and do what no trained pokémon was ever supposed to do: killing a human being, to protect his master?

"I... I understand, now," the old researcher said. "I think I might have some introspection to do."

Seemingly getting some satisfaction from his elder's admission, Blue's expression softened again. "Look, gramps. I know..." He sighed, as if he was trying to work up the courage to say something he didn't really want to. "I get that you're worried about me, with what happened and all... But I don't need you to pity me. I've lived my life just fine without you and I'll get out of this hospital with or without your help."

Samuel couldn't help the disappointment from showing because of what he interpreted as one final rejection. But, his grandson wasn't done talking.

"But, if you want to come back here sometimes... I won't mind. Maybe you can convince me you're not lying to the both of us, then."

And there it was. The sentence he waited so long to hear. The 'I'm gonna give you one last chance' he so desperately hoped for. Coming from someone like his grandson, it was more than a big deal. Blue didn't forgive just anyone. The only way he could convince him of his good intentions were to actually show him. To do something concrete. Words wouldn't cut it. He couldn't waste this chance because it would never ever come back again.

The old man allowed himself to smile in understanding and to his surprise and delight, after a few seconds, Blue actually smiled back, cautiously but genuinely.

* * *

Recovery was slow for Blue. Now that he was awake from his coma, he had been moved out of the ICU and transferred to the seventh floor which was dedicated to patients recovering from surgeries. He spent a good five months completely bedridden because of the need for his back to remain immobile. As he got (relatively) physically stronger and more aware, it became more and more difficult for him to stay in bed, the desire to sit up and do something with himself despite not being allowed to, frustrating him beyond measure.

The cuts and the stab wound, as well as the gash in the back of his head were pretty much only scars now, but the residual effects of the concussion were still noticeable. The gym leader was in constant pain. Horrible migraines and back aches never gave him a moment of respite and all that contributed to making him especially irritable and difficult to handle. He couldn't get up; he couldn't even change positions and it was driving him crazy.

Both Red and Samuel (and Margaret too, sometimes) tried to visit him frequently to support him. Red, especially, tried to help the staff deal with his moody friend in any way he could to spare them the insults but it was very difficult to do because Blue refused most of the help he was offered. Red couldn't blame him for that and he hoped the nurses wouldn't either.

It couldn't be easy for his immensely proud friend, who was always in pain, to require help for the most basic tasks such as eating, drinking, washing and getting dressed. What's worse, he couldn't even use the bathroom by himself because he couldn't get up. Even Red would have a hard time accepting help for something like that, so for his friend, it was an almost unbearable humiliation.

The long period of immobility was starting to show some physical effects too. The prolonged inactivity was beginning to eat away at his muscle mass and it had visibly diminished, making him look even more fragile. Blue had never been massive to begin with but now, his formerly athletic physique was replaced by a thin, sickly-looking one. Not only that, but his lying down in the same position 24 hours a day had the other negative side-effect of creating pressure sores who needed constant care so as to avoid infection. They were especially prevalent on his legs since he truly couldn't move them at all.

Red could see that his friend was trying to be brave but he couldn't even imagine how hard it had to be to go through this.

Blue had to undergo regular physiotherapy in order to, not only move his muscles around a little bit to slow down the process of muscle atrophy and to keep the blood flowing to avoid worsening the pressure sores, but also, and most importantly, to rebuilt the nervous connections in his lower body to hopefully get his legs to move on their own again. Despite his foul mood, that was the one part of his treatment Blue really tried his hardest to make right because of the possible promise of walking on his own two feet again. He tried and he tried and he tried. He followed every instruction of the physiotherapist to the letter and he put all his energy and willpower to get his legs to move. Progress was extremely slow and the gym leader got frustrated by his own disability almost every session but he kept trying and trying with all the stubbornness that made him who he was.

On that faithful autumn day where Blue was able to bend his knee ever so slightly, his joy was so great that he almost cried. If he was able to move his leg without help after a back fracture, there was no reason why he couldn't do something even greater, he told himself. For the first time in almost six months, the gym leader had hope. Hope that things would get better for him, at last. Hope that carried him through the constant pain and had him keep trying to bend his knees, flex his ankles and wiggle his toes whenever he could.

Red celebrated his friend's 22nd birthday with him at the hospital. Though he never said it explicitly, the former champion knew his presence was appreciated. Blue really didn't need anything money could buy but he did reiterate that he wished he could see his pokémon again to make sure they were alright. The former champion promised him he would make it happen as soon as he managed to sit up and could get out of his room while still worrying in the back of his head that he would inevitably find out about his Alakazam's demise when he did so.

* * *

Eventually came the day, six months after the accident, where Blue needed to sit up for the first time. An x-ray let them know that his vertebral fracture was healed enough to withstand the stress. The gym leader insisted on doing it himself.

He took a deep breath and pushed himself up. The closer he got to being upright, the more he felt his own weight rest on his still very sensitive spine and also on the two metal rods bolted to it. It was a strange feeling, these two foreign objects underneath his skin which where now a part of him for the rest of his life, making his back feel stiff but at least a little stronger.

And for the first time in half a year, the young trainer was able to sit up, free from the constraint of a neck brace or a back brace and he was able to look down at his body, seeing it paler and frailer than ever before. He honestly didn't know how to feel about it. He was equally sad as he was happy so the result was a very confusing mix of the two.

When the staff offered him a wheelchair, he eyed the contraption with disgust. Depending on a piece of equipment to get around was a very insulting thing to him but he was so sick of being in this room that he swallowed his pride and, refusing any help from the staff, managed to maneuver himself with the help of just his arms to sit down in the thing, while the nurse hooked his IV bag to a pole attached to the wheelchair.

It definetly took a moment to get used to sitting and actually using his muscles. His movements were hesitant and clumsy. Getting the wheelchair to move, while it looked simple enough from an outsider's eye, decidedly required some learning because his first attempts were embarassing to say the least. But there was no way he would allow himself to get wheeled around by someone else like some decript old man, so he persevered and, for the first time in half a year, got out of his hospital room by himself.

After insisting that he was perfectly capable of managing on his own for a while, Blue was finally let out of the ward, without anyone to babysit him. Despite the fact that he would rather not to be recognized by anyone (he was a celebrity well known across Kanto, after all), he was so sick of being in the ward that he was willing to take the risk just to get away from these damn white walls and see something new for a change. He still opted to wear a simple hooded vest over the accursed hospital gown he was forced to wear, just to be a little more stealthy.

Still not used to getting around in a wheelchair, the gym leader managed to get to the elevator and to the ground level. His head mostly dissimulated underneath his hood, Blue avoided eye contact with every person he came across so no one would pay attention to him and be tempted to start a conversation. Let them think he was just another random patient like the dozen others walking around.

The young trainer wheeled himself to the cafeteria and bought a simple cup of tea that would hopefully help him relax. The chronic migraines and the incessant ache in his back made him particularly tense and stressed these days. And it didn't help that the concussion still made him three times more emotionnal than he usually was. His emotions were all over the place and even though he was perfectly aware of it, he had little to no control over it. It didn't help making him feel less like a child when he required help to wash, eat and use the bathroom already.

The cafeteria was mostly empty. It was about 8:30 pm; most people were done eating by now. Good. He had the large room almost to himself. Blue found a quiet spot at a table in the corner where a newspaper had been abandonned and parked himself just there with his steaming hot tea.

Trying to forget his nagging headache, Blue picked up the newspaper. For a second, he wondered if it would say anything about the events that led him into this accursed hospital but then he reminded himself that that had happened months ago already and that it was unlikely that they would talk about it in this weekly newspaper.

The gym leader was still feeling a little strange. Even after all these days, he still felt his mental capacities were not quite what they used to be. His long-term memories and intellect were pretty much intact. No... It was stuff like concentration, problem solving and short-term memories he had trouble with. The neurologist reguraly tested his still recovering brain by making him read, do simple math and making him memorize a list of words. He used to be quite skilled at math but now, it was like some things refused to connect in his brain and he couldn't figure out a problem he _knew_ was simple. The more he tried, the more the numbers looked like a foreign language he had never seen before. It didn't seem to progress very much, either. Memorizing a series of words was also very difficult for him, despite the fact that most regular people would have no trouble. No matter how hard he tried, he would forget half the words seconds after the neurologist told him. It was so frustrating! He knew he wasn't dumb so why was it so difficult for him to do such simple things?

It wasn't his fault, the doctor told him. It wasn't because he had gotten 'dumber'. It was because his brain had undergone a serious trauma and that such a fragile and complex organ was highly vulnerable to malfunctions and took a long time to heal. He estimated that his mental capacilities were pretty good, considering the severity of the concussion and that they would keed improving over the years if he kept exercising them regularly but there was only so much damage the brain could reverse...

The thing that had changed the most about him and that he was all too aware of, was his concentration skills. Ever since he woke up, he had been unable to stay concentrated on a task for more than a few minutes. It could be something as simple as connecting dots in a neurological test or reading a text. After a while, the information just stopped being processed in his brain and he was unable to summarize what he read or explain how he tried to solve a problem. It wasn't because he got distracted; it was because his brain _just couldn't do it_. It didn't help that his short-term memory also began to suck. That, he hadn't been aware of until Red pointed it out. He asked a question and minutes later he would ask the same question again because the answer just didn't register. He didn't even know when he did that.

All of these deficiencies raised nerve-wracking questions. Was he ever gonna be able to go back to battling? Would he ever be able to accomplish his function as a gym leader with such impaired mental capacities? What if he couldn't? What would happen to him if he couldn't do the one thing he had dedicated his life to perfecting? Being a pokémon trainer of his level, capable of commanding to one or two pokémon at a time required tremendous concentration and quick reaction time. How would he perform if he was unable to stay focused for more than a minute and quickly forgot crucial information?

The possible answers to these questions were just too unpleasant and Blue tried not to think about that. Instead, he tried to be optimistic and keep training both his body and spirit so he could hopefully _walk_ out of this hospital with his mind as sharp as it used to be.

Sighing and trying not to dwell on his unfortunate situation too much, Blue picked up the newspaper and browsed through it, checking if he saw any headline that would catch his attention. He didn't see anything particularly interesting so he just picked a random article and tried to read it, so as to work on his concentration and memory again. He didn't even have the time to lose his concentration. To his dismay, someone interrupted him.

"It's you, isn't it? Blue Oak! Our gym leader!"

 _Fuck..._ He had been spotted and worse, recognized. And he couldn't exactly run away, being in a wheelchair and all. The strawberry blonde prayed the girl standing next to him wouldn't make a scene and attract the attention of everyone in the hospital. The last thing he wanted was for the entirety of Viridian City to see him 20 pounds underweight in a wheelchair. Blue tried to pretend like he didn't hear her and kept his eyes locked on the newspaper, hoping she would think she was mistaken and would go away. He was not so lucky.

"Yes! I knew it! It _is_ you!"

There was no fooling this one. Cornered, the young trainer found himself with no other choice but to look up at her standing form and emulate a smile.

The girl was probably around his age; not gorgeous but not ugly either. She was dressed simply and her hair was tied in a simple ponyta-tail. Her eyes were gleaming with enthusiast as she looked at him.

"Uh... Hey," he tried to sound polite. Usually, he was more than welcoming to his fans, perfectly fine with letting them heap praise on him. He would sign autographs to anyone who asked for it and would gladly answer their questions. Most of the time anyways. But right now was not one of those times.

"My name's Ellie. Big fan! Everyone's been so worried about you. Nobody knew if you'd survived that horrible catastrophe! You've been gone for so long!"

Coming to grips with the fact that this girl was not gonna leave him alone after a simple 'hey', he sighed, opting to answer so she would satisfy her curiosity and hopefully leave, soon.

"I know."

"I'm so sorry about what happened. It must be so difficult for you."

Not that he needed a reminder. "I'd really rather not talk about it."

Thankfully, the girl seemed to get the message and calmed down slightly. She looked almost embarassed at her own silliness. Blue was used to getting such reactions from his many female fans. He'd lost count of how many of them tried hitting on him in every possible situation, using every possible approach; timid, aggressive, seductive or disinterested.

This particular girl was visibly into him, like many young girls got into they favorite male celebrity. Blue had gotten pretty good at spotting that over the years. He didn't really mind but in that aspect, he was pretty old-fashionned. He liked to work a bit for his conquest; not having the magikarp jump right into his net, so to speak. At the moment, though, flirting was the furthest thing from his mind and he was definetly not in the mood, or in the state, to respond to her noticeable attraction towards him.

"Oh... Of course," she said when she saw that he wasn't on board with her enthusiasm at all. "I understand. I suppose you need some time to recover from that. I'm not gonna bother you any longer because... I understand its probably annoying to deal with pesky fans when you're in the hospital. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone I saw you... Unless you let me. Can I-"

"No. Please. Don't," the gym leader stopped her right away, smiling through clenched teeth, hoping she would get the warning.

"O-okay. I'm gonna leave you alone for now. Pleasure talking to you, Mr Oak."

With that, she turned around and began walking away from him. Blue sighed. He was sure glad that was over. He hoped she really would be true to her word and wouldn't shout it on every roof in Viridian City that he was _here_ , in a _wheelchair_ but he really couldn't do anything to stop her if she intended to.

The gym leader was just about to resume his reading when a thought crossed his mind. A perfect stranger... who had been outside during these past few months... who would most likely not deny him a straight answer if he asked her a question...

"Wait..." he called after the girl before she got too far.

She spun around quickly, blushing and surprised. Blue tried his hardest to smile gently at her and invited her to sit down across from him with a hand gesture. She quickly obliged, her face reddening with every passing second.

"I hardly remember anything about what happened," he told her. "I was out for a long while. Do you happen to know a little bit more details about what happened to my gym?"

"Well, I only know as much as the media lets on. I could... Wait just a sec. I'm gonna show you the article."

The girl fished out her cellphone from her pocket and tapped a few times on the screen until she found what she was looking for. She handed the device over to him and he took it. The screen showed a web article titled 'Terror attack at Viridian City gym' and right underneath, was a picture of a half blown building taken from an elevated position, probably by a helicopter. The colors, the shape of what still stood... There was no doubt that this was his gym. His home. In the picture, which had visibly been taken shortly after the destruction, a massive cloud of dust could be seen floating all around but what attracted his eye the most was the massive hole in the back of the building. It looked like a meteor had smashed into the Viridian City gym. The separation between the two floor was just gone. Half of the building was just rubble and broken concrete. Somewhere among these debris, Blue told himself, he had fallen and had his life changed forever. Looking at an overhead view of the damage, he could only wonder how the hell he managed to survive that.

Blue quickly tried to read the first few lines of the article but they didn't yield any information he didn't already have. That's not what he wanted to know. He wanted to know what happened to him _before_ the whole thing exploded!

The gym leader scrolled down the article, reading a few words in search of something new, until he stumbled upon another photograph. A photograph of...

His heart skipped a beat.

"You see," Ellie said when she saw what he was staring at. "When we saw that picture, people were convinced you were dead and that the League was trying to cover it up. I'm glad to see it wasn't true."

Blue just barely heard her words. He was fixated on that picture. A picture of him lying on a stretcher, strapped head to toe to the thing, his whole body covered in blood. He felt his migraine worsen tenfold and he nearly dropped the phone. His mind was suddenly thrown into chaos, a thousand images flashing across his memory. Blood, bullets, knives, a bird with black wings and an evil man dressed in equally black clothes. Violent emotions and sensations invaded his body. He felt a terrible vertigo for a second or two. He really felt like he'd been falling... and falling... and falling. He was abruptly snapped out of it when he hit some unseen ground and woke up just like one would from a dream.

"Oh my... Are you okay!?" the voice of the girl sitting in front of him grabbed his attention again.

It took a few seconds for the gym leader to remember where he was and why. So this was one of those flashbacks they told him he might have. He didn't expect something so strong, so vivid. It shook him a lot more than any nightmare he ever had. His head hurt so bad... He had to go. Now.

"I-I'm fine," he tried reassuring her, trying to mask his pain under a smile. It probably didn't work nearly as well as he wanted it to. "It's... nothing I didn't already know," he lied with as much talent as he could muster. "But the pictures... Wow, huh?"

She didn't seem to buy his fake dismissive attitude but he couldn't bother making himself more convincing at the time.

"I... I have to go now," he announced to her, trying not to look like he was in a hurry, even though he was. He backed away from the table and began to wheel himself to the exit of the cafeteria, abandonning his almost full cup of tea on the table. "Don't tell anyone you saw me here, okay?" he asked her pleadingly. She didn't hide her confusion and disappointment.

"Okay."

Blue hurriedly wheeled himself away from her, away from everyone, determined to get back to his room before he fainted. His head was pounding and his heart was beating so fast and hard he could feel his pulse around the metal rods in his back.

* * *

The gym leader had gone back to his room, closing the door behind him, hoping to be left alone until his head stopped spinning. He stayed there for a long moment, grabbing his pounding skull between his hands, waiting for it to be over. Images would still occasionnally flash in his mind, unclear. It was the torment of not knowing why what was happening to him was happening. It was becoming too much to bear. He could just not accept not knowing why his life had taken such a turn for the worst.

Alone in the semi-darkness, Blue was able to catch a glance at his own reflection for the first time since waking up in the hospital. For a long moment, his hazel eyes remained glued to the long vertical mirror resting on the wall, mesmerized by the odd version of himself looking back at him.

He was thin, thinner than he normally was. His cheekbones were protruding, his eyes were sunken in and his neck looked fragile from having been kept trapped in a brace for so long. Even his hair's formerly vibrant color was faded. It was still noticeably shorter in the back of his head where a long scar could still be seen but the rest of it had apparently been maintained in an approximation of his usual style.

Faded red lines were spread randomly across his face, the remains of multiple cuts. The more he looked at them, the more he lost himself in his thoughts. The sight was stirring something inside of him; he didn't know what. It was like trying to remember a dream just after waking up but feeling the memory fade away the more he tried to grasp it.

Still unable to tear his eyes off of his reflection, Blue, almost without realizing it, grabbed a fistful of his lose-fitting hospital gown and pulled it off of him, unveiling his weakened body to himself.

Unsurprisingly, the rest of it was still thin and pale. Enough for his ribs to show a little bit. There were a few cuts, still, but not as many as on his face. This was the first time Blue actually really saw something concrete about the horrible accident he'd been in. The desire to understand why his life was thrown into chaos had grown stronger every day that went by but now, it was too great for him to stop himself. He wanted to know. He _had_ to know. He had to _see_.

Being as careful as his painful conditon allowed him to be, Blue pushed himself out of his chair using his arms and eased himself down so he sat on the floor, his partially paralyzed legs uselessly dragging on the white tiled floor. The hard surface of the floor made his back ache even more but the gym leader didn't care. He was on a quest for the truth. He had to see... his back.

The young trainer slowly but surely managed to turn himself around while still keeping his eyes on the mirror, never allowing his gaze to leave the reflection. His laborious attempt slowly revealed to him just how serious the surgery he had undergone without his knowledge was.

There was a long, vertical, red surgical scar running down his back, going all the way from between his shoulder blades and disappearing under the hem of his pants. Small red dots were visible on each side of the scar, traces of the surgical staples that were removed just a month ago. Somewhere underneath that scar, two pieces of metal had been fused to his being without him even being aware of it.

Blue had no legitimate idea of how post-traumatic flashbacks were supposed to work but he'd hoped looking at his injuries would stir some repressed memory buried deep in his psyche. Anything that would help him understand his own situation that he would trust more than just any stranger's word, doctor or not. Still, even seeing this enormous wound, the worst injury he suffered by far, it didn't make him remember any specific event of any kind. _Why can't I remember how this happened,_ he wondered, frustrated beyond measure. Why couldn't he remember how this all happened and how his gym was destroyed by Team Rocket?

He tore his gaze off of his back and his eyes drifted slowly towards the bandage he had around his arm. He'd been told he'd been stabbed in the arm and that that was the reason he had nearly bled out of his life. Giovanni, apparently, had stabbed him with a knife of some sort. Why in the arm? Why not in a more immediately lethal place? Pieces of the puzzle just floated around him, too many of them missing to make a coherant story.

The nurses would probably not appreciate, but Blue didn't give a damn. With cold determination, he turned himself around to face the mirror again and tore the bandage off of his arm unceremoniously, ignoring the pain from the still sensitive injury and finally unveiled the only wound he hadn't seen before.

* * *

 _You know, amnesia seems like this way over-used cliché that one would want to avoid including; and I would have, except that post-traumatic amnesia (or selective amnesia) is a real and common thing for people who undergo serious psychological or physical trauma (for example, people who go through a serious car accident will often not remember the moment of impact and the events immediately before and after) Some people never recover their memories but many will experience flashbacks when something triggers their memories. Again, it sounds cliché but it's a real thing._


	32. Pride is all that's left

_Here's a chapter full of feels for you guy. Are you crying yet?_

 _Also, if there are any handicapped people reading this story, please don't be offended. Blue doesn't actually hate them, he just refuses to accept his disability and is freaking out over it._

* * *

 **Chapter 32: Pride is all that's left**

When Red walked in Blue's room some time in the morning for one of his daily visits, he didn't quite expect to see him sitting on his bed with his face buried in his hands. The brunette noticed that he didn't wear his hospital gown like he usually did, leaving his chest bare, which was already odd and unusual but he also noticed that the bandage that used to cover the stab wound on his arm was torn off and carelessly discarded on the floor.

He was just about to ask him what was wrong when the gym leader slowly turned towards him, oddly and uncharacteristically not caring about showing his reddened face and eyes to him. He looked exhausted; like he hadn't slept for a week. The look of resentment and betrayal he darted at him threw Red off pretty badly.

"How long were you two planning on keeping this from me?" he asked out of nowhere.

"What?" Red could only answer, utterly confused, not figuring out right away what he was talking about. Unsurprisingly, his already highly emotionnal friend immediately lost his patience.

"Don't play dumb with me!" he yelled scornfully. "My Alakazam! My pokémon is dead and you kept it from me for **six goddamn months!** "

Red felt like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on him. He was not prepared to deal with this situation right there, right now, this morning. Blue had remembered what happened to his pokémon. Before he had a chance to tell him. Now, he felt betrayed. And Blue was not going to take kindly to this betrayal, _especially_ since he was highly unstable emotionnally. "I..."

Try as he might, the former champion couldn't find a way to respond to that that didn't make his decision to keep this tragedy from him sound even worse than it already was. His silence was all the confirmation Blue needed and he just shook his head, turning away from him again.

For the first time since the accident, Red caught a glimpse of Blue's back. His hospital gown was discarded somewhere on the floor for some reason and now his horrible long surgical scar was exposed for the whole world to see.

"How could you keep this from me? Urgh..."

Red's eyes widened in alarm when the blonde trainer grabbed his forehead in agony. As much as he wanted to help him, there was nothing he could do about those atrocious migraines that kept tormenting him. Wracked by guilt, the brunette advanced towards his friend and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, careful to avoid going anywhere near that scar.

"How could you...?" Blue lamented, unmoving, probably not really expecting and answer.

"Blue, I'm sorry," Red tried to justify himself. "I just... You need to understand. Nobody thought you were going to survive this. You were in a coma for 44 days. They told you about your back... You were hurt so badly. I just didn't think... I thought it was too soon to tell you. You had enough on your mind already."

Blue didn't move or respond. The fact that he wouldn't even give him an angry reaction was almost worse than if he did. Red had to put himself in his shoes. How would he react if one of his pokémon was killed? Would he prefer not knowing right away? Having people lie to him?

No, Red told himself. He didn't lie to him. Nobody lied to him. Nobody told him his psychic hadn't been killed. They just withheld information. It was at least slightly better, morally.

At the same time, he really did think he was doing the right thing. Blue had enough hardships to overcome without the need to deal with the grief caused by his beloved pokémon's unfair death. Red was beginning to think it was one of those situations in which there was no right answer. But even that wasn't enough to ease the guilt he felt upon seeing his demolished friend choking back sobs in his hospital bed.

"Look, I'm really sorry. I really did this with the best of intentions, but..."

Red could already tell that words would not cut it. Confronted with this new reality, Blue had no choice but to go through his mourning and hope for the best.

"You... and that bastard old man... You all lied to me..." he whispered eerily.

The brunette opted to keep his mouth shut so as not to make it worse. He was getting increasingly nervous and when he was nervous, he sometimes said things he didn't mean to.

"I raised that pokémon ever since I caught him hiding the grass as an abra," the gym leader told. "And I trained him to become one of the strongest on my team. He saved my life... twice."

And Red thought shamefully that one of those times was against him. The powerful psychic had put him to sleep even though he could easily have killed him for nearly choking his master to death but he knew he hadn't been aware of what he'd been doing. Red owed it to that pokémon to for not only having prevented him from commiting murder but in a way, for even making it possible for he and Blue to become friends. He didn't event want to think where he would be now, had it not been for the psi pokémon's intervention.

Alakazam had saved Blue from Giovanni's bullets but it turned out to be a mere distraction which cost him his life. He couldn't save himself and therefore, couldn't save his master from that terrible fall.

"This is why I got this," Blue said, resting his left hand on the stab wound on his right forearm. The wound was almost healed but would forever leave a mark. "I tried to make Giovanni pay. And I would have if he didn't have that knife..."

The gym leader had spent the whole night awake, pushing his concussed brain to the limit trying to remember the events that led him to where he was. When he saw that stab wound, he remembered how he got it and, more importantly, why. There were still several parts missing to his memories but the image of Alakazam getting a bullet through the skull resurfaced painfully and was now forever branded in his memory. He had felt all the anger that had submerged him at that moment invade him again and he spent the rest of the night cursing himself for not managing to just kill Giovanni when he had the chance. Blue never ever thought he would go so far as to take someone else's life but the tragic murder of his pokémon and friend had sent him so far over the edge that he would have killed Giovanni twenty times over if he could have. It was a strange thing he had discovered about himself in an even stranger way and it was almost frightening.

Oh, he was angry, alright, but he had nothing to let it out on. Giovanni was dead, killed by his Blastoise. Had he not been hurt so badly he could no longer battle, he would have unleashed his revenge on every single member of Team Rocket... Or at least, he would have gotten up and worked a punching bag until he ran out of breath or until his wrists broke. All this time alone in his room had given him all the time in the world to think about his friend and his grandfather hiding this from him. But as much as he was angry at them both, it paled in comparison to how angry he was at himself for not being able to prevent it.

* * *

Blue never mentionned the death of his psychic again. On each of their visits, Red and Samuel were confronted with a wall of silence. The pokémon professor recognized that reaction instantly. It was the very same reaction Blue had when he was orphaned. When his grandson suffered a loss, he didn't talk about it and withdrew into his thoughts, not giving anyone access.

They would often find him sitting in his wheelchair, looking out the window at the pidgeys and spearows flying effortlessly into the sky. After a while, it would become too much for him and he would get himself back into bed with his back turned on the window.

Blue had a lot of time, way too much time in fact, to think and one of the things that kept haunting his thoughts was his sister. Whenever he caught a glimpse of the scar across his knuckles, he would think of her; of their last conversation and the terrible way it had ended. He had told himself a while ago that he wanted to erase her from his existence but now, he surprised himself by changing his mind and wishing for her to come see him and comfort him like she did when he was a small boy. Yet, no matter how much he wanted to call her and try to tell her how sorry he was, he couldn't bring himself to beg, or use his medical condition to guilt trip her into coming. And he couldn't admit to himself that he was sitting by the window everyday waiting for her. His pride was all he had left.

Over the next few weeks, Blue worked diligently in physiotherapy and rehab to get his legs to move, but after a while, the neurologist started to get worried as not only did Blue not seem to make progress at all, he actually seemed to get worse. Putting his feet down and using a walker to try and see if he could put any weight on his lower limbs at all was as close as he got to actually standing up before things started to go downhill for him. As the days went by, he got less and less control and sensitivity to his lower body and unfortunately, after six months of hard work and pain, he was back at square one.

The pain in his back only worsened. The gym leader had more and more trouble sitting up and getting into his wheelchair because his back hurt more everyday and not just at the site of his initial fracture. The pain seemed to extend progressively up his spine. The doctor had him go through several neurological tests and the only conclusion that could be drawn was that he was losing sensitivity in his lower limbs at an alarming rate. All the progress he'd worked so hard to make over these last few months, powering through incessant pain, were all in vain. Blue was unable to even make an attempt at standing up anymore. When the nurses saw that the skin of his back started to bruise and turn purplish, the neurologist ordered an x-ray urgently.

His legs wouldn't move at all and one day, the neurologist announced to him that he was completely and irreversibly paraplegic.

* * *

Blue sat in a recluse corner of the cafeteria, concealing his identity underneath his hooded vest again, trying his hardest to force-feed himself while resisting the ever increasing need to seek refuge in the solitude of his room. It was hard enough as it was to get himself down there to eat but the horrible pain he was in was ruining what little appetite he had. This had been going on for several weeks now and the fact that he was almost incapable of ingesting anything resulted in several nutritionnal deficiencies which they had to counter with injecting him with various nutrients. He wanted to eat. He wanted to, so bad. He knew he needed it; he knew it was important. But he just couldn't keep anything down and the malnutrition was contributing to speed up the process of muscle atrophy. It had gotten so bad he couldn't stand to look at himself in the mirror anymore.

Blue looked down at his bowl of soup, feeling his stomach churn at the mere thought of touching it and he couldn't help but ask himself how he could fall this low, he who used to be in perfect health since birth.

The gym leader ran his gaze across the many people, visitors, patients and employees of the hospital, all sitting together at the several long tables, most of which were happily chatting among themselves. They seemed to be in a whole other layer of reality than he was.

Many of these people were patients. Some of them were injured, some of them were sick. There were at least half a dozen of them in wheelchairs, just like him... but of most of these people were elderly and probably to old and frail to walk around. And now he, a 22 year old, would never get to use his legs again. How did it come to this? All these people... they seemed reasonably happy despite the condition they were in. Maybe they were content with being burdens to society and their families for the rest of their miserable lives but he sure as hell would not content himself with that.

A particular scene caught his eye, somewhere amongst the crowd. There was a woman sitting at a table and a man in a wheelchair next to her. It was not just any wheelchair. It was one with a head rest and a straw through which the man could blow to get himself to move around. This man was quadraplegic. He couldn't move his legs _or_ his arms at all. And he just sat there, while the woman, presumably his wife, fed him his lunch with a spoon. Blue just stared at them, not caring if they, or anyone else noticed it, unable to take his eyes off the scene. To him, it was more horrifying to look at than a train wreck and nothing he had ever seen before in his life, scared him more than this.

Blue was brutally pulled out fo his thoughts when he began to feel a steadily increasing pressure in his chest. Reflexively putting a hand on his heart, he could feel his pulse going out of control inside of his ribcage and suddenly, he felt like he couldn't breathe. _What the hell is happening to me!?_

When the gym leader began to feel an intense pain in his heart, he began to panick. _I have to get out of here._ He was invaded by some sort of primal fear; like he was about to die. He completely abandonned his almost untouched meal and wheeled himself out of the room as fast as his shaky arms would allow him. The sting of salty tears were starting to hurt his eyes. He almost couldn't breathe; like he had a very serious surprise asthma attack even though he never had that happen to him before. The pain in his chest made him afraid that he was actually suffering from a heart attack.

Blue continued to wheel himself across the hospital hallways, ignoring the strange looks he got from the people he crossed and the few who asked him if he was alright. In his panic, he had no idea what he was doing or why and the thought of asking for help didn't even cross his mind.

He only stopped when he got to a dead end in a random corner of the hospital. There, alone, with uncontrollable tears running down his face and shaking like a leaf, Blue just stopped. He stopped trying to get away. He stopped fighting it. If he really was having a heart attack, then just let it take him away out of this torture cage that was his body.

Things didn't quite turn out that way and after twenty minutes or so, his heart stopped pounding and hurting and his breathing returned to normal. Blue had no idea what that had been about. It was unlike anything he had ever gone through before. He just sat there, wishing it all would come to an end already.

It was the sight of that man being spoon fed in that special wheelchair... A man who couldn't do anything by himself and just had to live the rest of his life being cared for like a baby. Suddenly, it had hit him in the face harder than a baseball bat. That was his worst fear he had right in front of his eyes. This was what he feared the rest of his life was going to be until he got to his grave. And it terrified him beyond any reasonable measure. He didn't want to be one of _them_. He didn't want such a life. He couldn't! It was unbearable! The only reason he fought for so long to get better, and tolerated the help he was given, was because of the promise of one day being able to do it himself. Because one day, he wouldn't need this anymore. But now, it would keep going downhill for him.

Sitting there, hugging his skeletal body with his arms, paralyzed by fear and sorrow, Blue could practically feel his soul being mercilessly crushed by the weight of the world.

* * *

Days turned into weeks and Blue was still mostly mute, dealing with the loss of his pokémon, as well as the definitive loss of his autonomy, in silence. Red kept visiting him, despite the fact that his friend wouldn't talk to him. He had no real idea if he was still mad at him for not telling him about Alakazam. The gym leader looked more sad than angry these days and Red suspected that his initial burst of anger was just him letting off some steam. The bad news of his pokémon's death had just been too much to take and he needed to let it out; Red understood that. Regardless, the former champion deemed it vitally important to stay by his friend's side, no matter how difficult he would be. This was not a situation where he needed to be left alone, even if he wanted to.

He didn't know, still, if it had changed anything about his relashionship with his grandfather. They had just barely begun talking to eachother on more friendly terms again and Red was actually worried that all this would be ruined by the fact that Samuel kept the secret about Alakazam, too.

Red entered the ward for yet another visit one day and just as he was about to walk into Blue's room, a man wearing a really out-of-place suit bearing the Indigo League insigna exited the room, nearly bumping into him. The man gave him an awkward smile as he passed him by, which Red did not return, as if he'd almost been caught doing something bad, and slipped away as quickly as he could. The brunette eyed him suspiciously as he passed the set of double doors that led outside of the ward. What was the League doing here?

He then entered Blue's room to find him sitting on his bed. Red got an immediate bad feeling upon seeing the distraught expression on his face.

"Hey," Red called softly to get his attention. "What's going on?" he asked. "What's up with the League guy?"

His questions seemed to startle Blue out of his thoughts. Whatever it was that the League representative told him, it was not good.

"Oh... uh... Nothing," he said, trying rather poorly to change the subject. "Nothing you need to concern yourself with."

This 'nothing' seemed to have such a profound impact on him that Red was not really willing to just leave it at that.

"What did he want?" he asked in a casual tone so as not to put his friend on the defensive.

Strangely enough, Blue remained silent, just staring at his hands. He kept quiet for so long, Red thought he just decided not to give him an answer at all, but then...

"They fired me."

The brunette's eyes widened in shock. "What!?"

His formerly combative friend gave him an exhausted look.

"They fired me," he repeated. "They basically told me they couldn't have a cripple for a gym leader. They said that I could no longer do my job properly. So, they fired me."

Red couldn't believe what he was hearing any more than he could believe how easily his friend had resigned himself to losing this job he loved so much. This job that was the symbol of his second chance at being a respected trainer after losing his champion title. This job that was the symbol of the accomplishments he made for himself and for no one else. His career. He had done so well as a gym leader that it made him world-famous and earned him an army of devoted fans. Blue would have fought claws and teeth to keep his position.

Regardless of whether he could actually remain a gym leader as a paraplegic, there was no way the Blue he knew would let the League take this away from him without a fight.

"This is madness!" Red protested, feeling all the anger his friend should have felt in his stead. "They can't just fire you without compensating you in any way! Because you're disabled? They can't do that! They have to pay for a permanent leave, don't they?"

"They don't have to do anything," Blue responded dully. "I wasn't injured as a result of my job so they don't owe me any compensation."

"This is bullshit! This is blatant discrimination! You should sue them for that!"

When faced with his demolished friend's defeatist attitude, Red felt like he had to protect and defend him against this criminal injustice. He was hoping that him taking a stand for him would motivate him to do something about this but, to his dismay, Blue just shook his head tiredly.

"No, Red..." he said. "I don't have the energy to take on the whole Indigo League in court. This is not a kind of battle I know how to fight. And with all the lawyers they can pay... there's no winning this one."

"But..."

"This is what they wanted to do ever since they hired me," he snorted, a smile completely devoid of happiness on his pale face. "I refused to bend to their rules since the beginning and it bothered them. They had no choice but to keep me because they needed someone to fill in for Giovanni. Now, they have the perfect excuse to throw me out. They couldn't do it before because they knew the people of Viridian City loved me way too much and that firing me would cause too much of a shit storm. But now, they can."

Red just listened in abject horror to the disgusting case of discrimination that was happening right in front of his eyes. If he had known what that League representative had come to do, he would have told him to fuck off. If he had come just a minute earlier, he would have had a chance to say something.

"And honestly, what else should I have expected?" Blue went on. "They're right. I can't do anything in here. I can't stand up. I can't move. I can't concentrate on anything and I keep forgetting... (he ran a frustrated hand through his hair, grabbing at the orange strands nervously) I keep forgetting stuff minutes after they happen. How can I possibly keep being a gym leader like this, Red?"

How did it come to this? Just a few weeks ago, he was told he would be able to walk again with enough training and now, he was told he would never walk again and he lost his job. He was permanently disabled, he was without a home and he lost his main source of income. It seemed like just yesterday, he was _standing_ on the battlefield with a legion of his adoring fans chanting his name. And today, he was paralyzed, jobless and homeless.

He still had quite a bit of money in bank; enough to live for several years by himself but with no steady income and with the physical impossibility of earning money just by battling other trainers on the road, he was bound to sink sooner or later. Blue knew there was no way Samuel, Red or his mom would leave him in the streets. But just knowing that he would literally depend on them to live was intolerable for him.

"I know..." he began, struggling to keep a steady voice. "I know I was never a saint or anything..." Red, his eyes full of sympathy, listened to him intently. "But I can't help but wonder... What could I possibly have done to deserve this?"

There was nothing Red could say that could fix this. Blue's life was falling apart in front of him and he could do nothing but watch. Watch as the life he struggled so hard to built burned to ashes. What did Blue to deserve this? There was nothing the now ex-gym leader ever did that would have made him deserve such a punishment. The sheer injustice of it all was sickening. Giovanni, for all the evil deeds he had commited, had still known a swift, mostly painless death whereas Blue suffered a slow, agonizing downfall to rock bottom. If he had known it would come to this, would he really have wanted to survive? If only he had succumbed to his injuries quietly and peacefully during his coma...

"I'm tired, Red," he whispered, a far away look in his eyes. "Very tired..."

* * *

Red knew that deep down, Blue wished he hadn't survived the fall. Most of the things and people he cared about were taken away from him and he was seriously running out of reasons to keep fighting. Which was why Red thought that there would be no better moment than now to reunite his friend with his team.

The former champion brought all of his friend's pokémon with him and went to find him in his room. He didn't have to work very hard to get him to sit in his wheelchair so they could go outside. At the mere mention of his pokémon, Blue's eyes lit up with hope.

The two friends left the hospital and Red walked, with Blue wheeling himself next to him, always refusing help, until they got to a park, one of the many in the Evergreen City, where there was enough space and privacy to release all of the pokémon. The sun was shining brightly and a gentle breeze carried scents from the forest. There was no one around.

Red released Blue's pokémon one by one: his jolteon, exeggcutor, aerodactyl, gyarados, pidgeot, rhypherior, arcanine, tyranitar, machamp, ninetales, heracross and of course, his Blastoise.

There was a light that hadn't been seen in a long time in Blue's eyes when he saw his friends again after being separated from them for so long.

They all looked overjoyed to see their master alive and well after being so uncertain of his fate and they all surrounded him, cooing joyfully. Jolteon jumped on Blue's lap and nuzzled against his shoulder, his spiky yellow hair flattening on his small body so he could be petted. Aerodactyl, Pidgeot, Tyranitar, Machamp, Ninetales,Heracross and Rhypherior stood close, surrounding him protectively. Blue's enormous Gyarados circled them all with his long body. Arcanine stood tall behind his master, sniffing and nuzzling his head as well. Exeggcutor stood by, shading him from the sun with his leaves. Exeggcutor in particular probably understood better than any other what he'd been through all this time. His psychic abilities and his telepathic connection with his trainer told him all he needed to know.

Red watched, respectfully silent, the heart-wrenching spectable of seeing Blue, confined to his wheelchair, smilling tearfully, reaching as far as he could with his hands to pet all of his pokémon. For the first time in forever, he was really, truly happy. It all came to a stop when they all parted to reveal Blastoise, who stood proudly in front of him. Jolteon jumped off of his lap, as if he understood what needed to happen between his trainer and his starter.

Blue looked on at his oldest friend. "Blastoise..."

The shellfish pokémon and its owner stared in eachother's eyes deeply. Blue was almost overwhelmed by emotion upon seeing his old friend; his very first pokémon, in more than half a year, after he went through a traumatic experience. The water type was the reason he was still alive. He had seen what happened to him and had protected him against the evil man that was Giovanni. He had stood strong and survived a building crashing down on top of him almost unscathed while his psychic partner fell right in front of his eyes, and not long after him, his master and trainer. After spending all this time unsure whether his master had survived, he finally saw him again and emotion was evident, even on the usually stoic pokémon's face.

The bulky pokémon, his small triangular ears pricked and attentive, took a few steps towards his owner. Blastoise was confused for a second upon seeing that his master did not stand to greet him and pet him on the head like he usually did. He didn't know why he wouldn't stand up but the water type felt that Blue really wanted to, but couldn't. He could tell his master was weak and fragile. So, he leaned towards his sitting form, lowering his massive head close to his with a gentleness wildly contrasting his signature skull bash. He soon felt his master's hand scratch behind his ear just the way he liked.

"I've missed you so much," he said softly.

Blastoise let out a low growl, which his master knew was the closest thing the powerful tortoise could utter to a gentle purr. Blue stared into his pokémon's eyes, which were of a coincidentally similar shade to his.

"I'm glad you're okay," he said.

Blastoise nuzzled his hand as soon as he stopped scratching to request more. Blue snickered lightly and obliged. They spent a moment of peace together, just basking in the joy of seeing eachother alive but the atmosphere grew somber after a while and Blue's smile faded. His Blastoise seemed to understand that he wasn't okay. They were very much in tune with eachother's moods, after all. He could tell his pokémon was unsure of why he couldn't stand up.

"I'm not doing so great..." he explained. Just how much his pokémon could truly understand was a mystery from a scientific point of view. Not all species of pokémon were equally smart or perceptive and while squirtle and its evolutionnary relatives were known more for their impressive lifespan than for their smarts, having raised his starter for almost twelve years, Blue was convinced that his Blastoise was smart enough to understand him. His pokémon responded swiftly to verbal commands. He knew for a fact that he could understand many different words. His Blastoise was obviously aware that he wasn't in his normal state. He was a lot smarter than one might thing.

"I'm sorry," he added, trying not to let his unstable emotions get the better of him. "I can't be your trainer anymore. You see... I got hurt real bad and..." He interrupted himself. Just talking about what he was going through was difficult for him. Blastoise grunted again. "I can't stand up and move around like I used to," he finished.

The shellfish pokémon stared sadly at him. Exactly how much he understood was anyone's guess but his small ears drooped sadly. "I'm sorry, boy," Blue said, letting his hand drop to his side. "I can't give you those exciting battles anymore."

Blastoise's sorrowful expression mirrored his and Blue, barely standing to see his old friend so sad, leaned in closer himself and pressed his forehead against the water type's, closing his eyes. "You're still my pokémon," he assured him. "You and all the others. No matter what happens. Nobody can take away all the things we've been through together."

Blue leaned back into his chair, breaking the contact with his pokémon. He never though he would have to do this, ever. "Don't you worry about me, now," he said, trying to smile. "Everything's gonna be alright."

He gave his Blastoise one last pat on the head, unable to hold back his tears any longer. "Everything's gonna be alright..."

* * *

"I'm getting really worried about him," Samuel confessed to the doctor, the two of them standing in the hallway not far from Blue's room, but far enough so the latter wouldn't hear the conversation. "I mean, just look at him. He looks like he's about to drop dead any minute. He won't talk to me, or anyone. He doesn't eat. One of his most beloved pokémon is dead and he lost his job..." Samuel realized once again how terrible what was happening to his grandson was upon reciting the ever increasing list of calamities that struck him. If ever there was a concrete representation of the expression 'can't catch a break', that was it. "I know there's only so much we can do for the physical problem but, isn't there someone who can do something about the mental part? He acts nothing like his usual self."

The doctor nodded in understanding but his expression was not exactly reassuring. "We've offered him to see a psychiatrist on several occasions but he always refuses. Unfortunately, unless he gives us a concrete reason to think he's a danger to himself or others, we can't legally force him to."

Samuel sighed in exasperation but understood that the hospital couldn't do just anything they wanted to a patient without his or her consent and Blue, being an adult who was still very much in contact with reality, could legally refuse any and all help if he wanted to.

Indeed, so far, he never did anything that would make him dangerous to others. No matter how angry he got, he never got physically violent and in even if he did, in the state he was in, the damage he could do was severely limited. However, Samuel was beginning to doubt Blue was not a danger to himself, or at least would become one if things kept going on like this for much longer.

He became more and more reclusive with each passing day. At first, he would glare at any visitor, whether it was him, Red, or any member of the staff and would order them to get out of his room at the slightest provocation. Eventually, he just stopped talking and would refuse to acknowledge their presence. Now, he wouldn't even look at them. No matter how hard they tried to cheer him up, a dead, emotionless glance was all they would get. Samuel suspected that his grandson had simply given up any hope that things would get better for him. He had just resigned himself to being in constant pain and misery. It was blatantly obvious that he was severely depressed and the pokémon professor was getting increasingly worried that his young grandson might do something... regrettable.

It was unbelievably frustrating that nobody could do anything before somebody got, or at least almost got hurt. How he wished he could talk some sense into his stubborn grandson but he was probably the last person on Earth Blue would ever listen to.

He tried... Oh, he tried to get Daisy to talk to him, even if just on the phone. He tried so hard to get her to visit him because he was convinced that if she actually saw the state her little brother was in with her own two eyes, she would no longer be able to go on living her life pretending he didn't exist. He hung on to the hope that maybe, just maybe, the possibility of reconciling with his sister would snap Blue out of it. But it didn't matter how hard he tried, neither one of his grandchildren would budge. And seeing as Daisy was due to give birth any day now, it was clear that afterwards, she would truly forget about her brother.

Margaret didn't have that strong of a bond with him... Red was probably the only person alive that could still possibly convince Blue to seek some help so he could, hopefully, find a reason to live again and learn to live with his handicap.

* * *

 _In case you were wondering; no, it was not a heart attack that Blue suffered in the cafeteria. It actually was very bad panick attack. Some of you may be familiar with this. It can cause chest pains sometimes which can lead some people to believe they are having a heart attack._


	33. Blue's request

_**WARNING! VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO ALL READERS!** Before you go on any further I must warn you that from this point on, this story will contain material that could be seen as controversial by some people. I cannot tell you what it is about specifically because spoilers, but if you're the kind of person that is easily offended you might wanna proceed with caution. I will not respond to any flames or disrespectful comments about this. Nor will I change this story._

 _Rest assured, however, that nothing you will see in the upcoming chapters is done with the intention of hurting anyone's feelings or of preaching any sort of point of view to anyone. I am not trying to make any statement out of this. It is a story. Nothing more than that._

 _The next few chapters can be pretty upsetting. Consider yourselves warned._

* * *

 **Chapter 33: Blue's request**

Eight months into his hospitalisation, Blue's condition took a turn for the worst. The young trainer was in such unbearable pain that he had to be permanently injected with powerful pain killers. His back had become so painful that he could no longer sit up and access his wheelchair, which made it so that he was once again confined to his hospital bed 24 hours a day.

The staff had noticed that darkening purplish bruising began appearing on his skin, slowly progressing up his back, seemingly following his long surgical scar. When the doctor was made aware of this, he ordered for him to get an x-ray urgently, so they could figure out what exactly was wrong.

It was during one of their visits that Red and Samuel were made aware of the results. Indeed, the worst possible complication of the operation had occurred and the metal rods in Blue's back were causing the rest of his spine to crumble away. Basically, he was in a constant state of having his bones shattered by the very implement that was supposed to strengthen them. It was unclear whether this unfortunate twist of fate was the result of a mistake by the surgeon, or if it was the consequences of having too much stress put on the spine too soon but regardless, the result was the same.

Because of the pressure exerted by Samuel, every surgeon in Kanto and even in Johto were called and were showed the x-rays but all of them came to the same conclusion: that there was nothing to be done.

As Blue's spine continued to crumble, his paralysis would keep progressing up his body until he eventually became quadraplegic and would see all four of his limbs paralyzed.

It would keep going downhill from here for Blue, as his injury would keep him bedridden likely for the rest of his life but the paralysis would eventually reach his cervical vertebraes which would also paralyze his diaphragm and the muscles between his ribs, essentially making it so that he wouldn't be able to breathe on his own and would end up needing a respirator to do it for him.

It was estimated to be a matter of two or three years for Blue's condition to get to this point.

* * *

When Samuel sat down to visit his grandson not long after hearing the terrible news of his deteriorating condition, he immediately felt the tears threaten to spill out of his eyes. Blue was lying in his bed, once again an IV connected to his arm and a whole bunch of wires hooked up to him. He appeared to be asleep. Samuel couldn't stand to see him like that; he who used to be a strong and perfectly healthy young man, looking so frail. Blue had been let into the hospital at 69kg; now, almost nine months later, he was down to 42kg.

This was like a nightmare that refused to end. That surgery that Blue had undergone while in his coma; the surgery that he approved without his grandson's knowledge and consent, was destroying his back and ruining his life. Even though he knew Blue's fracture couldn't have been left unattended and that going through the surgery was a necessity if he ever was to hope to get a semblance of a normal life back, it did little to ease the guilt of being the one to have made him go through this and to have led him to the sorry state he was in now. For the rest of his young life.

Samuel buried his face in his hand, wishing that all this misfortune would stop plaguing his family already and he stayed there, unmoving, with the tick tock of the clock as the only distraction from the opressive silence, for a long time.

"I don't blame you," then came a faint, weak voice.

Samuel's eyes shot open and he looked down at the pair of tired hazel orbs observing him. It was the first time Blue spoke a word to him, or anyone, in weeks and he'd actually thought that his depression was so severe that he just wouldn't talk to anyone again.

Gripped by a powerful flow of emotions, the old professor was unable to respond.

"I know you think this is your fault," Blue continued, his scratchy voice barely above a whisper. "But you have to stop now... It's not gonna do either of us any good."

"Oh, Blue..." Samuel sobbed, finally finding the strength to speak, not caring about maintaining his usual placid facade. "It was me who put you through this. I'm an old man; it should be me who wastes away in a hospital bed."

"Don't say that. Trust me, you don't want to be in my place. Daisy still needs you; way more than she needs me. And the baby, too."

Just a few weeks prior, Daisy had finally given birth without any problems, to a little girl. The newest member of the Oak family had been an occasion to celebrate in a pretty grim period of their history. It had been the one thing that made Daisy finally smile again after being abandonned by the man she loved and she finally snapped out of her lethargy to work diligently on her new duties as a mother. Samuel had been very happy to live to see his great-granddaughter, hoping that she would get to have a good, normal life and wouldn't face tragedy after tragedy like her far less fortunate uncle.

Samuel had talked to the doctor about the possibility of having Blue transferred to a special center dedicated to caring for people with physical disabilities so he could finally leave this hospital and see something different. Having people who specialized in treating his type of injury might also help him overcome his depression but it was a big if... The mere sight of a wheelchair made him sick and the elder Oak knew that even after all this time, Blue still refused to accept his condition. He never got a chance to; it kept getting worse and worse. There was no telling if he would ever accept being transferred to such an establishment.

If he accepted, they might be able to stabilize him and find a way to make him as comfortable as could be. Then maybe, just maybe, they could find a way to work things through with Daisy and have Blue meet his niece. Samuel swore to himself that he would do everything in his power to make it happen, even if it was the last thing he ever did.

"I hope you get to meet her, one day," he said.

Blue did not seem to share his enthusiasm as his expression grew noticeably somber. The professor noticed that he cast a quick glance at the pale scar that ran across his knuckles. There was a lot of guilt and shame in his eyes.

"I don't know, gramps..." he mumbled. "I don't think I'm in a good place... to handle a kid," he added vaguely. "Besides, I don't think Daisy's gonna let me."

Blue's reasons for not being too eager to meet his niece were unclear but Samuel was fairly sure it wasn't because of who happened to be her father. As misguided as they were, Blue's actions had been in the interest of Daisy and her child. He had tried to defend them both, albeit in an ill chosen way. No... it wasn't because Blue wanted nothing to do with the child. Samuel suspected it was because he felt guilty for causing her father to leave and therefore, felt unworthy of calling himself her uncle.

"I will talk to Daisy," the elder Oak assured him. "She will realize sooner or later that she was better off without a cheating husband."

Despite his best efforts, his grandson didn't seem too optimistic. He seemed tired. Too tired to make plans about the future. As a heavy silence settled between the two men, and they were both forced to remember that they were in a hospital and that one of them had an injury that worsened by the day. It was Blue who broke the silence first.

"Don't blame yourself for this," he said. "If I'd been awake, I would have gone through with this surgery anyway... This was gonna happen, regardless."

"I just wish there was... something I could do," the researcher deplored.

"There is one thing I need to ask you," Blue suddenly changed the subject. "I'd like you to take care of my pokémon... You know... Since I won't be able to... I don't want them to spend the rest of their lives locked away in a pokéball. Or you can give them to Red, if you don't want to."

Samuel knew that his grandson's pokémon where the most precious thing he had in his life and that it was probably the only thing he owned that he cared about deeply. It was truly cruel for him not to be able to care for them and battle them like he had dedicated his life to do. That Blue was willing to trust him with what he cherished the most was an honor Samuel couldn't allow himself to refuse.

"Of course," he nodded in acceptance, forcing himself to smile reassuringly. He was surprised to see him smile back briefly.

There was a small moment of silence between the two until Blue broke it again.

"Why don't you go home for a few days? You look like you're about to faint."

"I couldn't—"

"I don't need you to check on me every day," Blue interrupted him. "You need to get some rest. Go home for a few days. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Samuel asked worryingly.

"Go," Blue told him with a nod. "I'll be fine."

Samuel was submerged with emotion. How he wanted to hold his grandson in his arms to thank him and to show him what he felt deep down. But since Blue couldn't sit up, the old professor did the only other thing he could think of and ruffled the young man's orange hair affectionately, like he used to do when he was a small child. He hoped Blue wouldn't take it the wrong way.

"I love you," the old man said simply.

He surprised himself with how easily the words came out and when they did, he felt a huge weight being lifted off of his shoulders. He had been so afraid to see his grandson die without ever having heard his guardian tell him that. Now, it was out there and he didn't care what the consequences would be.

"I know," was all Blue needed to say. _Now, I know._

* * *

The evening of the same day, Red had come to visit, he too, concerned for his friend's degrading health. Blue tried to look brave and not show how devastated he was but it didn't stop his former rival from worrying about him like a mom.

"You don't have to hang around here every day," Blue said in his weak, scratchy voice upon seeing his good friend walk in.

Red was stunned from hearing him talk for the first time in weeks. He didn't expect that to happen; not so soon after hearing the horrible news of his deteriorating condition.

Blue was laying on his bed, yet again, even thinner and paler than he'd ever seen him before. His eyes were dull and devoid of light. Dark circles underlined them because of the countless sleepless nights he had spent, in too much pain to ever hope to doze off for very long.

"I know," Red said calmly, feeling a deep empathy for his friend's suffering yet chosing not to aggravate him by keeping a neutral expression. "You would do the same if I was in your place," he finished confidently.

"You think so?" the strawberry blonde asked genuinely.

Red had to resist the impulsion to roll his eyes. For as proud and arrogant as he usually was, Blue sometimes had a bad habit of seeing himself as unworthy of kindness, or perhaps more acurately, he was never really used to disinterested acts of kindness. After all, he had to fend for himself without any help since he was 11.

"I wasn't there when you were in the psych ward," the ex-gym leader reminded him with something akin to guilt darkening his features even more.

Red understood that maybe Blue regretted not being as present during his time of need as he should have but the former champion never really held it against him at all. He had nearly strangled him to death and though he never admitted it out loud, it was evident that the incident had shaken him pretty badly and to Red, that was a fairly justifiable reason not to visit him during his time in the psych ward. Besides, he himself wouldn't have liked for his then-rival to see him in such a state. The brunette still felt a lot of shame about this particular moment of his life; for allowing himself to get into such a situation in the first place. He had no one to blame but himself. That was not even mentionning him abandonning his mother for three years without saying a word.

"No... But we weren't friends back then," he said matter-of-factly.

He didn't want his already tormented friend to worry about something like that, especially since he himself never minded.

There was a shadow of a smile passing on Blue's lips but it was gone just a few seconds later. There was a long moment of silence during which both friends were forced to think about the ever deteriorating health of the ex-gym leader. The latter was staring at the window, a faraway look in his eyes, like he was dreaming of being in another place, far far away from here.

"I never said..." he began slowly. "I never said I was sorry for being such an ass to you in the past, have I?"

Now, Red did not expect that at all. Not because Blue probably never apologized verbally for anything in his life and chose this very strange moment to do so for the first time, but because the former champion couldn't believe he felt this still needed to be said.

Though his former rival's relentless bullying during their childhood had had a lasting impact on his self esteem and confidence growing up, Red had quickly forgiven him as soon as he saw the genuine good intentions he had for bringing him back from Mount Silver. To know that his worst tormentor had a real change of heart had been enough for the brunette to forgive him, although not to forget. The past had been buried for good that night when they settled their score by beating eachother to a pulp and what grew after that was a friendship stronger than anything either of them had ever known.

Red appreciated his friend's belated apology but he refused to take it because he considered him to have amply made up for his mistakes by rescuing him, at the risk of his own life, from the abyss he had gotten himself into.

"I never said I wanted you to," he responded simply.

At this, Blue turned his head towards him and Red actually saw a brief smile illuminate his pale and emaciated features. Red forced a small laugh out, hoping to encourage Blue to do the same, however, his smile was gone just as fast as it came. His friend's distant eyes fell on a random spot on the wall.

Red noticed that Blue seemed uncharacteristically nervous and uncomfortable. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed and his jaw was clenched. He looked like he wanted to say something but wasn't sure he could. Red waited patiently for him to talk.

"I got a favor to ask you, Red," he said, finally meeting his eyes. His voice was a little shaky but his tone was calm.

"Of course," Red said, offering him a reassuring smile to let him know he was there for him. Blue took a long inspiration, lightly clutching the blankets between his fingers. He remained silent for a long moment.

"... Remember what we did for that ratatta?" was the chilling question Red never knew until now was the last question he ever wanted to hear.

It took a few seconds for Red to figure out what his friend was talking about. He searched his memory for any trace of one of the small purple rodents until finally, he got it. A rainy day in the forest, at eight years old, play fighting with his neighboor until they came across a small ratatta, fatally wounded, somewhere in the bushes... and Red remembered exactly what they did for that ratatta.

His smile instantly vanished and his eyes slowly widened as realization progressively dawned on him of what Blue was telling him; or more precisely, _asking_ him. Red searched his eyes in hopes of finding any hint that he wasn't serious but Blue held his gaze, more determined than he had seen him in a long time. He couldn't possibly mean what he thought he meant, could he?

"No..." Red protested after an uncomfortably long moment of silence. Blue's unwavering stare made him shiver with dread. Red's intial fear was replaced by anger. "Don't you dare ask me that. Don't even think about it!" He was fairly certain he would start hyperventilating soon.

The mere thought was making him sick and awakened a wave of unpleasant memories and fears deeply embedded in his psyche. Did Blue even realize what he was asking? What the consequences were?

Blue's eyes bore straight into his soul, still hardened in determinaton, even though Red looked away to compose himself. The former gym leader waited patiently for his distressed friend to calm down. Red felt cornered, backed into a wall and it scared him more than anything ever had before. He wanted to get up and leave but his body wouldn't move. With nowhere to run, the former champion looked back at his bedridden friend.

"Do you even know what you're asking me?" he started to panick, his usual stoic facade crumbling instantly. "Are you crazy!?"

Blue was unphased by his outburst and just waited for it to be over and Red had no choice but to calm down. Only then did the gym leader speak again.

"I can't be like this, Red," he spoke in a strained but still eerily calm voice. "Not me. Not after all I've done." Blue took a moment to breathe in through a particularly painful throb in his back. "I've seen the world... (his eyes became lost in a faraway place briefly before settling back on a very disheartened Red) I was the champion of the Indigo League and the strongest gym leader in Kanto history. I was in magazines... People chanted my name. No... Not my name... They gave me a name. They adopted me. And they were chanting for _me_. Do you think I ever dreamed this would happen?"

Red couldn't find it in him to speak. He was torn between fear and sorrow. Either Blue didn't realize, or he didn't care because he went on with no regard for how much stress he was putting on him.

"Look at me, now..." Blue went on. "Do you think this is what I wanted my life to be? To be stuck in a bed in never-ending pain until I die? To require help for everything because in a few years I won't even be able to breathe on my own? No... This isn't how I was meant to go. I don't want to live like this, Red. I won't allow it."

Red was not prepared to deal with such a demand. Never until now, had Blue put his suffering into words and he was forced to look at the fact that his friend had had nothing but suffering in his life for eight months. Even so, he didn't want to look at the evidence. He didn't even want to consider doing what he was asking.

Blue gulped uneasily and his expression grew sadder still. "When I was born, I wasn't breathing for two minutes. They thought I wouldn't make it. My dad used to tell me I fought to get into this world. And I wanna fight my way out." Red felt a painful knot form in his throat. "That's all I wanna do, Red... I just don't want to fight _you_ to do it. I had my shot. I got what I needed... I got it all... Don't let them keep taking it away from me...!" A single tear ran down Blue's cheek and fell on his pillow. "Don't let me lie in here until they've stripped away every last bit of dignity I have left... Until I can't hear the chanting anymore..."

Red couldn't hold back the bitter tears that escaped from his own eyes. It physically hurt to hear those words come out of his former rival's mouth. How did it come to this? Blue, the guy who always had a smug smile on his face, the guy who had an ego the size of Kanto, the guy who never hesitated to put a smartass in his place, the guy who had a reputation for being a ruthless gym leader and who had singlehandedly stopped almost every attempt at earning his earth badge, the guy who had been his friend and his rival literally since the craddle... Red had always admired how confident, how outspoken and how strong he had always been. Now, that very same guy was laying in a hospital bed with a shattered spine, asking him to put him out of his misery.

"I can't do this," Red shook his head, refusing to even consider it. He was starting to feel nauseated. "Please, don't ask me to do this, Blue," came his weak protest. Blue's expression grew determined and serious again.

"I'm asking you," were his only words.

Never before in his life had Red wanted to disappear this much. His friend wanted to die. His friend wanted him to kill him. Why would he intentionnally put such a heavy burden on him? Did he not care about what he was putting him through?

These lasts few months had been nothing but pain and humiliation to Blue and now, knowing that it was all in vain and that he would never recover from the ordeal, there weren't a thousand solutions for him to chose from. But his proud friend wouldn't have asked just anybody to carry out his final wish. No... it couldn't be anyone other than him, his closest friend; his brother, for he was the only one he was willing to admit to, that for the first time of his life, he was ultimately and utterly defeated. The fighter who had cheated death several times and who had gotten up from so many hardships had finally gotten caught in a fight he couldn't win; the destruction of his body and soul by a never-ending spiral of suffering in a prison of sheets and wires. He was throwing the towel, surrendering, and Red was the only human on Earth he would have allowed to see that. The trust he put in him was so strong that he was taking the risk of putting his fate in his hands and asking him to allow him to die keeping that secret, so he could leave without regrets and with his dignity intact.

But Red wanted none of that responsibility. How could he ever even think about killing his best friend? The selfish bastard certainly didn't think about what _he_ would have to go through, living the rest of his life with a murder, however merciful it may be, on the conscience and the constant fear of being discovered for it. What would people say? Professor Oak? Daisy? His mother? If he wanted to respect the secrecy of his friend's request, he would never be able to explain his reasons for doing what he did and the though alone revived horrifying memories of his time on Mount Silver and the psych ward when his biggest fear was hurting someone and being branded a murderer. A bad person.

"I can't..." was the first thing Red managed to say through his chocking anxiety, shaking his head in refusal. "Forget about it... There's no way I'm going to kill you, you crazy bastard!"

Deeply distraught and offended, the brunette hastily got up and tried to escape through the door but his friend's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"You've been by my side all these years..." he began, trying to hide the desperation in his voice. "You stuck with me even when I didn't want you to. And all this time you were waiting for an opportunity to return the favor for me saving your life. You wanna know what I want? _This_ is what I want."

Red stood in the doorway with his back turned and his cap pulled over his eyes. Blue waited anxiously for his only hope for a peaceful rest to respond. The answer, however was not what he wanted to hear:

"I saved your life already," Red said in a cold, resentful tone before leaving the room without looking back.

* * *

 _69kg = 152 lbs_

 _42kg = 92 lbs_

 _A quick mention: the premise of this final arc is inspired by real life stories I have heard and witnessed during my work in a hospital, but some of the dialogue and events are also inspired from one of my favorite movies (during which a similar event takes place) just so I don't take all the credit for the dialogue in this chapter._


	34. No way out

_Hello, all! Here's the new chapter. Thank you to all who reviewed the last one. You guys rock!  
_

 _Warning: Violence and very dark subject matter_

* * *

 **Chapter 34: No way out**

After his disturbing last conversation with Blue, Red simply walked out of the hospital in a trance-like state. Without him even making the conscious decision, he headed back in the direction of his hometown, his feet moving by themselves without him realizing any of what he was doing. He could see and hear everything about the world around him but none of it was registered by his brain. He was completely detached from his surroundings. He didn't even ackowledge the fact that his worn sneakers took him on route 1. There could have been a rare legendary pokémon walking right next to him; he wouldn't have noticed.

His every thought was occupied by the terrible, terrible thing his friend had told him on his last visit at the hospital. He walked without thinking, on autopilot like a mindless robot, along the fresh grass. So many questions, thoughts and insecurities were spinning in a chaotic whirlpool in his head.

Blue asked him, with unquestionable seriousness, to kill him; to put an end to his suffering and it was no coincidence why the ex-gym leader had chosen to word his request the way he did.

Red had reminisced about that nearly forgotten memory of Blue and himself playing in the forest as kids and finding that injured ratatta. That had been Red's first real time being confronted with the concept of death and even though the scene itself had become vague and faded in his memory, that moment, after which he had lost a part of his childhood innocence, had left a deep, lasting effect on him. He remembered that Blue had understood what was going on way before he did. Looking back as an adult, the former champion knew now, that it had been because his former rival had been acquainted with death several years before he was. He knew what it meant to be gone and never come back. He also understood that dying meant that the suffering of the small pokémon would come to an end. That was why it had been much easier for him to kill the ratatta.

 _"It's hurt. We should help it," Red said, empathic to the little being's suffering._

 _Blue looked down at the pokémon, which by now had stopped moving and closed its eyes, panting heavily, with a grave expression. He saw the blood drip out of its wound and even at his young age, he knew that the creature's life was nearing its end._

 _"There's nothing we can do, Red. It's hurt. It's suffering. We should put it out of its misery." The red capped boy looked up, confused, at his rival, not quite sur what he meant. Blue was uncharacteristically serious, his hazel eyes never leaving the bleeding animal. "It's in pain. If we kill it, its suffering will end."_

 _Realisation dawned on Red and he immediately got scared and frankly, outraged by what Blue was suggesting. "No way! We can't kill a pokémon!" he protested._

 _"We have to, Red," Blue persisted. "If we don't, it's gonna keep suffering for who knows how long. We're doing it a favor, at this point."_

 _Red felt tears slowly fill his eyes, refusing to harm the poor little animal. He didn't understand his rival. He was eerily calm in this situation, like he had seen it happen before. The blonde boy looked around and picked up a rock roughly the size of an apple and held it up to Red's face._

 _"We'll do this together," he said, then felt the need to reiterate: "We're putting it out of its misery."_

 _Eyes filled with sadness, Red grasped the rock with Blue still holding it and the latter raised up both their hands high above the ratatta's agonizing form. As soon as he felt Blue bring the rock they were both holding down, he closed his eyes, not wanting to see the macabre spectacle. He heard an unpleasant crunching noise and then total silence. Red felt Blue take his hand off the rock and stand up._

 _"There. It's over, now."_

Blue was perfectly aware of what he was asking him to do, now. He was asking for him to do what they did for that ratatta because he wanted him to really understand that he was in too much pain and that it was the best thing to be done for him. Even if Blue's injury didn't end up killing him, he was inevitably going to be in extreme pain for two to three years until he became paralyzed from the neck down. Again, though Red knew a lot of quadraplegic people managed to live a good life in spite of their handicap, the brunette knew in his heart that his friend wouldn't. Blue was too proud, too independent and had known way too much freedom in his life to accept being confined to a bed forever. Red himself thought he would have a hard time living like that. For Blue, it would be nothing less than torture. Even when his back stopped hurting because of the paralysis, he would continue to waste away and grow more and more depressed.

Even knowing that, Red couldn't bring himself to do what Blue wanted him to do. It may have been terribly selfish of him but he couldn't help it; he didn't want his friend to die. He didn't want Giovanni to be right when he said that Blue would be better off dead when he confronted him in the ruins of the Viridian City gym. He didn't want to have to ponder whether he had actually condemned his friend to a lifetime of suffering by saving his life...

Red thought he knew his friend better than anyone but even he would never have guessed Blue would ask something like that. The ex-gym leader had always been so strong and resilient. It seemed like he was so good at projecting this tough image that even he believed that he was unbreakable. The reality was much different, though. The former champion couldn't begin to imagine how much pain he'd been in for the past eight months; he didn't even know if he himself would have withstood it for this long but Blue had finally reached the limit of how much bad news he could take and unlike Red, he didn't have a whole lot of reasons to hold on.

Why would Blue be so ready to die at such a young age? Because no one needed him. Because what was left of his family had rejected him or had been too late in redeeming their errors of the past. Because he had lost his pokémon, his job, his autonomy and that he had nothing to look forward to. He had asked Red, his only real friend to release him; to allow him to die so he could leave with no regrets.

Red remembered the best times they had spent together; transforming their bitter rivalry in an unbreakable brotherly bond. How they always had eachother's backs. He remembered clearly the heart-to-heart they had after they beat the shit out of eachother on route 2, after which they had finally begun to understand one another.

 _"I beat every gym leader. I beat the Elite Four. I sat on the throne and there's no one in the whole wide world who can say I didn't. And that's more than most of the trainers I see walking into my gym can ever hope to accomplish."_

 _Red listened intently to Blue's words, surprised at just how much he had changed since that faithful day on the Indigo Plateau. Blue stared at him right in the eyes, more serious and sincere than he had ever seen him. "I got my shot. It may not have turned out the way I wanted it to but it doesn't matter anymore. I've moved on. I became a gym leader and it became my new purpose. That day, on the Plateau, I gave it all I had to give and I still lost but you know what? I think I did alright."_

'I got my shot. I got what I needed,' Blue had told him from his hospital bed. He had accomplished something very few people could ever hope to achieve and he was proud of that. Even things that didn't turn out perfect for him had become something he used to grow stronger in every sense of the word. What mattered to him was that, unlike so many people who met their untimely death to injury or illness, he had his shot. He had his chance to accomplish his dream and to be remembered for it and ultimately, that's all he ever wanted. He got what he needed and he knew he could rest with that.

But just because Blue was ready to die didn't mean that Red was ready to make it happen. Not only because he didn't want his friend to die but because he didn't want to live with the guilt of being the one who sent him to his grave. What would his family say? How was he supposed to continue living after that? He couldn't tell anyone about Blue's request; Blue had asked him and no one else because he didn't want anyone else to know he was surrendering. Revealing this to anyone would be the ultimate betrayal. If he went through with it, he would never be able to explain himself. So, he would have to spend the rest of his life lying to everyone, or be labeled a murderer. Blue had been thinking about his own interests; Red was convinced he hadn't given a single thought about what _he_ would have to go through to carry out his wish and a part of him resented him for that.

When Blue had been admitted to the hospital between life and death, Red had been afraid that, in the eventuality that he didn't survive, the emotionnal distress it would cause him would make him lose control of his mind again. Now, the former champion was more than afraid that he would completely lose it if he was the one responsible for his death.

Red's initial refusal to grant Blue's wish was made out of pure fear. No way he was going to kill anyone, much less his childhood friend and rival. And despite the fact that Red had pondered all the reasons why Blue would ask such a thing, he still had no intention of doing it. Red would not have to live with the guilt of knowing he was responsible for his death. He wouldn't have to live with the knowledge that he had killed his best friend. However grim the future was for Blue, Red still had hope that he could maybe give Blue one reason to smile before the end. Reconcile with his sister... Meet his niece... See his pokémon one last time. Anything.

The former champion only barely noticed it when he set foot in Pallet Town, not long before sunset. When he walked into his home, Margaret looked up from the book she was reading, sitting in the living room, on the couch, and smiled at him. Red, however, was unable to return it and his mother understood that things hadn't gone well during his visit. Red was torn whether to talk to her about what Blue said to him or not. As much as he desperately wanted advice, he couldn't bring himself to betray his friend's ultimate desmonstration of trust by revealing it to anyone.

"I'm very tired," he simply said. "I'm gonna go to bed."

Margaret just nodded, chosing not to press the issue. Red retreated to his room, already knowing he wouldn't spend a good night.

* * *

Red woke up the next morning depressed and not at all rested. His last conversation with Blue had tormented and kept him up almost all night. His mind was nothing but fear, doubt and questions.

The former champion thought it his duty to visit his friend everyday at the hospital. Even though it would be the hardest it ever had been to face him now, he would be right there next to him, until the end... So, just like he did almost every day since he himself was discharged from the hospital after recovering from his gunshot wound, he made his way to the Viridian City hospital, unsure of how he was going to handle the situation.

He was surprised to see Blue's usual room empty and impeccably clean, like he'd never been there at all. Red had to wonder for a moment if he'd entered the wrong one. He hadn't and he was too confused to muse about whether Blue's absence was a good thing or not. Red went up to the nurse's station and asked the first one he saw about his friend's whereabouts.

"Oh, he was transferred in the Intensive Care Unit last night," came the unexpected and terrifying nurse's response.

Intensive care? Why? So suddenly? What happened last night that made it necessary to transfer him to the ICU? Red was frozen in place for a while, the state of calm he had managed to force himself into during his trip to the hospital instantly shattered. He felt a horrible dreadful feeling grip him in the gut. He definetly had a bad feeling about this.

Someone stepped up to him and the red-capped trainer recognized her as the head nurse he had seen multiple times ordering the others around during his many visits.

"You are Mr. Oak's friend, Red, are you?" she asked in an eerily serious tone. Red nodded, snapping out of his increasingly panicked state. "I must tell you something before you go and see him..." the head nurse continued, gesturing for Red to follow her in a more private section of the hallway, away from prying ears.

* * *

He should have known. He should have known that a guy like Blue wouldn't just sit back and accept his fate. Never in his life had Blue just given up and let go of his idea. He was as stubborn as they come. He should have known that when they had parted ways yesterday, after Red had refused to grant his wish, that Blue would not leave it at that. When his friend hadn't done what was asked of him, the ex-gym leader had decided to take the matter in his own hands and, in the middle of the night, when no one was looking, he had found his own solution...

Nobody knew how he managed to do it. Nobody knew he was this desperate. Somehow, severely injured, heavily medicated and paraplegic Blue had managed to throw himself out of his bed to grab a pen that a nurse had left on the table on the other side of his room and had stabbed himself in the throat with it. He did it all in the dead of night, hoping no one would see him and try to save him. When the nurse had made her hourly round at 3 am, she'd found him on the floor, unconscious, in a pool of his own blood, his IV torn off of his arm, with a pen sticking out of his neck. When the medical team had gotten to him, it was nearly too late. He had spent the rest of the night on the operating table once again, as the surgeon tried to remove the offending object. He had survived yet another operation but he was moved to the ICU because he needed constant medical attention and surveillance. The head nurse had told him that he had caused irreparable damage to his vocal chords and that he would never speak again.

Red actually had to retreat in a random isolated room somewhere in order to digest the news. He had to make a real, conscious effort to block out the abominable images he had in his mind, of Blue, of the pen sticking out of his throat, of the blood, of the scars, of his tears when he'd asked him... He never thought Blue would go this far and at the same time, he should have known. _I'm asking you_ , he had said. Red hadn't listened and now he had just tried to kill himself. He had managed to do it even though he was paralyzed from the waist down. He had been so _desperate_ to end it all that he had thrown himself off his bed, probably inflicting unimaginable torture on his shattered spine, to find the only thing he could use to do it. He had been so _desperate_ that he had been ready to try to slice his own jugular with a pen. Alone in his corner, Red started crying.

* * *

When Red entered Blue's newly appointed room, the sun outside the window was casting a white etheral glow on the bed. The former champion immediately spotted the thin, pale frame of his friend in the bulky bed. The ICU was much more silent than the rest of the hospital. No noisy visitors, no casual chatting of the nurses. In the room, there was nothing other than the sound of the respirator and the beeping of the heart monitor.

His eyes never leaving the still figure in the bed, Red slowly dropped his bag on the floor near the door and stepped forward. He had a nauseating impression of déjà-vu from the first time he visited him after the accident. The closer he got, the clearer his silhouette became.

Blue was still unconscious after the surgery, still probably unaware that his plan had failed. He looked more fragile and weak than ever before. Yet again, a blood bag was attached to him to replenish the massive amounts he had lost after cuting his own neck open. He was as white as his sheets. He looked like a stiff breeze could kill him.

His neck was completely encased in thick bandaging, hiding the no doubt nasty wound he had created with his failed suicide attempt. A narrow plastic tube had been inserted through his nose to deliver oxygen to his lungs without soliciting his damaged throat. Blue's once athletic muscular body was reduced to a skeletal shadow of itself, barely hidden by the mint green hospital gown he wore.

It hurt so bad to see him like this. This wasn't Blue anymore. This wasn't bright, strong and adventurous Blue. This was nothing but a body that was dead in every way but physically. Red's eyes lingered on the bandage around his neck, trying again not to think of what happened last night. Then, they trailed up to Blue's soulless and vacant face. Was this how it was gonna be like until he died? Was he gonna stay here, bound to his bed, unable to even speak anymore and just wait and wait until death came? The sheer injustice of it all made Red sick. Blue was only barely 22. He should have had a long life ahead of him. He should have lived to maybe find a girl and marry her. Maybe have kids of his own. But it was not to be.

 _Why? Why did you do this, Blue?_ Red knew in his heart what the answer was but the real question he was asking himself was why did it come to this? All of this for what?

Red stayed for a good two hours but Blue didn't regain consciousness. The former champion was angry, sad and terrified. He wondered why the hospital hadn't warned him or professor Oak of Blue's condition. It turned out that Blue had specifically asked for the staff not to tell anyone about his condition in the future. He had done everything in his power to try and go silently without anyone interfering; still, it didn't work.

 _Blue... what have you done?_ His failed attempt at ending his own life had made his condition even worse. Red was truly worried about what was gonna happen when he woke up. How was he gonna react? Was he going to realize that he'd gone way too far, or on the contrary, would become even more determined to end it all?

Before leaving his friend for the day, the brunette went to talk to the ICU head nurse. Now that Blue had clearly established himself as a danger to himself, he hoped that a psychiatrist would be allowed to come and evaluate him. He had no idea if it would actually do any good but it couldn't make it worse, could it?

Despite how worried he was about the ex-gym leader's reaction upon waking up, he reassured himself by telling himself that he was under close observation in the ICU and that nothing bad could happen without the staff noticing it and he left the building, promising to come back tomorrow to check on him.

* * *

Red sat alone on a fallen log not far from the edge of the sea, south of Pallet Town, watching pensively as the sun set. A cool breeze played with his hair. The sound of the waves breaking on the sandy beach soothed his tormented soul but regardless of how beautiful the scenery was, he didn't have it in his heart to appreciate it.

He jumped slightly when he felt someone sit down next to him on the fallen log. He gave a small forced smile to his dear mother when she lay a comforting hand on his back. He knew she could tell how distraught he was, even though she probably didn't know the full reason why. She was so devoted and caring; he didn't deserve her. She knew he was dying to let some of the pain out and she was there for him.

And she waited. She didn't say anything. She didn't pry or try to force him to talk. She was leaving it up to him to decide what he wanted to say and what he didn't. After a while, Red couldn't keep it in anymore.

"He tried to kill himself," he let out to relieve some of the stress.

"Oh no..." Margaret deplored, her face full of sadness and empathy.

"He... he tried to cut his own neck with a pencil," Red explained, feeling his throat constrict painfully at the mental image he had engraved in his mind resurfaced.

Margaret sighed sadly, rubbing her son's back comfortingly.

"You did everything you could," she said. "You can't control his actions."

"I know..."

"What's important now, is that you continue to be the good friend you've always been and stay by his side, no matter what happens."

As much as he wanted to do more, the former champion knew that his mother was right. Blue had decided to do what he did on his own. Still, Red felt a deep profound unease, thinking that this whole incident could have been avoided if he had just done what his friend had asked...

* * *

The next day, despite an ever growing discomfort because of the situation he was in, Red went back to the hospital again to see his friend. As soon as he set foot into the ICU, he felt something was off. There was nobody at the nurse's station. The hallway was deserted. Furrowing his brow in confusion, he calmly walked in the direction of Blue's room until he saw a nurse run past him, visibly in a hurry. Something was most definetly wrong. Quickening his pace, Red continued forward, trying to figure out what was going on, silently praying it didn't involve Blue but when he heard yelling coming form the latter's room, he started to run. He was not ready to see what he saw when he walked in room 308.

The ex-gym leader was surrounded by four nurses and a doctor. The former trainer was very much awake and he was struggling with all his might against the staff members, who were desperately trying to hold him down. Blue had angrily torn his IV and blood transfusion off, as well as the bandage around his neck. He was erratically clawing at his injury, trying to tear it open and the nurses were trying to grab his arms to stop him from hurting himself.

"Blue, no!" Red panicked.

Ignoring the doctor's request to get out, the former champion rushed to his friend's side, shrugging the agitated nurses out of the way and, despite his attempts at evading him, grabbed the strawberry blonde's wrists firmly and pinned them to his sides. When their eyes met, Blue momentarily stopped struggling and Red could see the profound resentment his friend had for him for stopping him from doing what he wanted. If Blue could talk, he would most likely tell him just how much he hated him at this moment. It was lucky, in these circumstances, that he was paralyzed from the waist down because there was no doubt that he would have kicked the hell out of him and a few nurses if he had the capacity to.

Glaring daggers at his brother, Blue let out an angry strangled growl and tried to wrestle out of his grip but his injury was too severe and he was far too weak to hope to overpower the former champion.

Red thought it was over but his friend wasn't done. Before the brunette had a chance to understand what was going on, he saw an alarming flow of blood cascading down Blue's chin. It was like a scene straight out of a horror movie. The nurses recovered from the shock of seeing that faster than he did and they immediately grabbed Blue's jaw, trying to force it open while the desperate former trainer, blood pouring out of his mouth all the way to his chest, clenched his jaw tightly shut. When he saw his friend cough and choke on the liquid, Red finally understood what was going on.

Deprived of the use of his arms, the very imaginative ex-gym leader had still managed to find a way to sabotage his own health by biting down on his tongue so hard, he was almost drowning on the blood.

"Blue, stop, please!" he begged, eyes wide in fear as he kept holding down his arms.

But his stubborn friend refused to yield and moved his head away as much as he could and tried to bite any hand that came to close to his face while still choking on the red liquid. He looked completely mad with anger and suffering.

The struggle continued for seconds that felt like hours, until the staff decided it had been way too long since Blue had taken a breath. His obstination forced the staff to turn him on his side to facilitate his breathing and to let gravity help them get the blood out of his airways, despite the fact that it was inflicting unimaginable pain on his cracked spine.

Swallowing back the guilt, Red continued to hold him down until he saw a nurse approach with a syringe out of the corner of his eye. The former champion dutifully kept his friend's arm extended until the needle pierced his skin, eliciting an angry grunt from him. Just seconds after, the sedative took effect and his struggling stopped. A deafening silence fell on the room for a few seconds.

Only then did Red allow himself to let go of Blue, contemplating the unconscious body of the former gym leader sorrowfully. His heart was beating so hard it felt like it would shatter his ribcage. Even unconscious, Blue continued to cough and choke on the blood. The doctor and one of the nurses ordered him to get out of the room while the three others were desperately trying to stop Blue's tongue from bleeding and reinstall his IV and transfusion.

The last thing he saw before leaving the room was his friend's livid face and his entire chin, neck and upper torso covered in blood.

* * *

Red and Margaret were finally allowed to see Blue after his self-mutilation had sent him to the operating table yet again. They were told his tongue had been stitched back in one piece. Upon hearing of the incident, the psychiatrist had ordered him to be restrained, since the former gym leader tried to seize every opportunity he had to hurt himself. Blue had become so aggressive and self-destructive, lashing out at any staff member that tried to get close, that he had to be sedated almost constantly.

The traumatizing scene Red had unwillingly witnessed had wracked him with guilt for the last 24 hours and had deprived him of a whole night of sleep. He had never seen anything so terrifying and heartbreaking.

It was his fault. It was all his fault. Blue had spent eight months of constant suffering, with an almost exemplary calm and dignity. From the outside, it really looked like he was holding on and pulling through the trying times he was facing. His apparent calm was just a facade, however, and it made it deceptively look like he was simply depressed. Nobody suspected that meanwhile, his mind was slowly falling apart, so much so that he was ready to do anything to end himself. He had tried to be brave for as long as he could until he found out that his condition was hopeless. Asking for Red's help to end it all had been his last resort and the former champion was now feeling the crushing guilt of knowing his refusal of his request had caused an all-out mental breakdown that resulted in his brother trying to slit his own throat and drown in his own blood.

When Margaret had seen Red come home with his hands and shirt stained with blood, she had insisted on coming to visit Blue. He could see his mother was crying inwardly for the son of her departed friend.

They found his broken body lying in bed again. When they got closer, they saw that Blue's eyes were half lidded, drunkenly moving around, unfocused and not reacting at all to their presence. The medication that his new IV was injecting in his veins was so strong that he was completely unconscious, suspended forcefully in a drifting state between awake and asleep. He was as pale as the sheets he was lying on, yet dark circles still lingered underneath his bloodshot eyes. His once vibrant orange hair was dull and flattened hopelessly on his skull.

Margaret stood close next to the bed, looking down at the young man with a profound sorrow. The sight of all the bandages and medical contraptions was almost too much for her. She could hardly stand seeing him so thin and weak. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. That the once strong and proud Iron Oak had hit rock bottom. She exchanged a pained look with her son, who kept a bit of a distance with his friend out of some unexplainable fear.

How many times had the medical staff saved his life now? They were going even beyond what Blue wanted. He didn't want his life saved but it was their job to do so. They couldn't just let him die even if he wanted to.

Looking down at him, unable to move, constantly in pain, and drugged so heavily he was not even aware that he was still alive, Red could not help the thought that came to him that Blue was kept a prisoner in his own body against what he had made clear was his will. Hesitantly, Red stepped closer and leaned a little towards his friend, trying to get into Blue's field of vision to see if he would notice him. Nothing. Though his eyes were staring in his general direction, they really weren't seeing him; they really weren't seeing anything. There was also no reaction at all when Margaret laid a very gentle hand on his arm.

"It's okay..." she whispered softly. "It's okay."

Red had to wonder if his mother knew more than she was letting on. The way she acted, it was like she understood... everything, even things she shouldn't know. Things even Red didn't know. He watched, mesmerized, as she leaned towards Blue and, gently, kissed his forehead. It almost like she was putting him to sleep. Almost as if it was goodbye.

Staring, heartbroken, at his unmoving friend, a subtle thought started creeping in the back of his mind. _Wouldn't he be better off dead at this point?_ Red tried to stop himself before the idea germinated but he couldn't. Blue had lost it all. He lost his parents, his sister won't even visit him on his deathbed, his relashionship with his grandfather was mended too late... He was suffering like a martyr. He had lost his mobility, his autonomy, his independence, his dignity. And now, he had even lost the option of ending it all here.

Red was slowly beginning to realise why Blue had made his final request to him. There was literally nobody else out there who would listen to him. It was now up to him whether or not Blue would have to suffer much longer. The weight of such a heavy burden was nearly crushing him but Red was slowly coming to grips with the realisation that he couldn't leave him like this. This was no life for such a young man to have. By keeping him alive, he was killing him.


	35. Friends never say goodbye

**_EDIT May 4: Guys, I just wanna let you know that I won't be able to update this friday because of my schedule. But fear not, I will most likely update saturday or sunday!_**

 _This is a relatively short chapter but a very important one. I kept wondering if I should make it longer but I decided to keep it simple. You'll see why.  
_

 _I want to thank you all for reviewing the last chapter: Eevee, SebatadeS, TetrisEffect, schyra, TheSilverHunt3r and UTOPIAN ANGEL. You guys rock!_

 _UTOPIAN ANGEL, I am very flattered that you think every pokémon fan should read this. I would be okay with you publishing this on Wattpad if you give me the credit and provide me with a link so I can see it._

* * *

 **Chapter 35: Friends never say goodbye**

Red sat on the edge of his childhood bed. The room was dark. The light of the white crescent in the sky revealed the young man's hunched over figure. His elbows rested on his knees, Red fondled with a small glass bottle, rolling it between his fingers, trying not to look at what it said on the label. There were no sounds, except for his slow and steady breathing. The alarm clock on his nighstand indicated in glowing green digits that it was nearing 2 am.

His face obscured by his signature cap, the legendary trainer sighed painfully, grasping the gleaming bottle with both hands as if to will it out of existence, He was trying one more time to work up the courage to stand up and do what he had to do. He hadn't told his mom; he hadn't told anybody. This was gonna be his sin and his alone.

He had tried to escape the inquisitive look of his mother all day by retreating into his room early. He didn't want her to know. Not her or anyone; especially not professor Oak. Would they even understand? Would they forgive him for what he was about to do?

Red couldn't sleep. His thoughts were all over the place and he was actually scared the crushing distress he was in would bring him back to his dark place where he could never find himself again.

Red had rehearsed his plan in his head many times over the course of the last few days. He had planned out everything in advance. He had thought of every possible thing that could happen and had worked on a contigency plan for everything that could possibly go wrong. He had procured everything he needed. He only had one shot at this. He couldn't fail.

Red's grip tightened around the glass bottle. He had done his research to find what would do the job the quickest and the most painlessly. He had to resort to shady and dishonorable means to get it but this crime was nothing compared to what he was going to do with it.

He looked up at the big white moon up in the night sky. His thoughts went to his friend: to the explosion, to the blood, to the scars, to his slowly weakening inner fire, to his abominable neck wound and to his lifeless eyes. Blue was waiting for him.

The former champion steeled his resolve, closing his fist around the bottle to then stuff it into his yellow backpack which was lying at his feet. He had all he needed in there. Red stood up to his full height, readjusting his cap, and walked out of his room quietly so as not to wake up his mom. Descending into the kitchen, the trainer took the notepad that he knew was always lying near the phone and retrieved a pencil to write down a note that he left clearly visible on the dinner table. As the young man walked out of his old house and into the cool nocturnal air, the words hastily scribbled on the paper were illuminated by the pale moonlight that filtered through the window.

 _Mom, I didn't want to wake you up so late at night. I have something I must do. Something important. I can't tell you what it is. I'm not gonna be home for a while. Don't worry. I'm safe. I don't know when I'll be back but I promise I will call you. I love you._

 _Red_

* * *

The ICU was locked, unlike every other unit in the hospital but Red had taken it upon himself to watch the nurses and other hospital employees come and go discreetly for a while until he had memorized the code he needed to punch into the keypad to gain entrance. At night, the hospital was mostly empty. Only the mimimum staff was kept around, and most of it was at the emergency ward. There wouldn't be more than two or three nurses around at night, he knew. And he had come prepared.

Red made a stealthy entrance into the ICU when his watch read 3:20 exactly. At around this time, the nurses would have finished their rounds and would be back at the station to write down their notes. Hugging the walls, Red neared the entrance of the nurses station and pulled out a small box and a surgical mask which he carefully put on. The box contained a vileplume's highly volatile sleep powder. He had to make sure no one saw him; that no one would interfere. Red spotted two nurses talking quietly while sitting at a table in the room. He watched them intently, concealed behind the doorframe and when he saw them look down at their notes, distracted, he took a handful of the flour-like powder and threw it in the nurse's station. The lighter-than-air powder formed a cloud over the two nurses's heads and they both immediately fell asleep, dropping their pens on the floor.

Red passed by every room in the unit to make sure there was no one else around, other than the sleeping patients, all of his senses heightened by the adrenaline. There were no other nurses or staff around. Red removed his mask and stuffed the box of sleep powder back in his bag. His head turned towards room 308.

The door let off a small creak as Red slipped stealthily into the room, making sure no inconveniant nurse was there. There was nobody in the room except for the lone occupant of the bed. Sure enough, Blue was there, lying on his broken back, a deathly shade of white, his moonstone pendant gleaming like a tear in the weak lighting of the monitors that surrounded him.

Even from a distance, Red could see his closed eyes moving restlessly behind his eyelids as he slept. His face was scrunched up in pain. The brunette saw him subconsciously pull weakly at the straps that kept his wrists pinned to the bed, which had been ordered by the psychiatrist in order to prevent any more self-inflicted injuries on him. It left him immobilized and completely helpless, imprisonned in his own body.

The heart monitor beeped steadily, displaying the fallen ex-gym leader's heartbeat. Red saw that he still had a thick bandage around his neck and that a plastic tube had been reinstalled in his nose to force in some oxygen.

Red shut the door quietly behind him and removed his cap respectfully, nearing the sleeping form of his former rival, sadly looking over his thin frame.

Blue's usually perfectly styled and maintained hair was now just hopelessly flattened to his skull by dried sweat. Dark circles were under his sunken in eyes and his lips were chapped and colorless. It felt so unreal, Red thought, to see Blue, the strongest person he had ever known, reduced to this, a broken body; a pidgeot without wings. Red's heart clenched in agony. This was a true crime. An injustice so hideous, he didn't feel like the world would still keep spinning round after this.

Red quietly pulled the chair next to the bed and sat down, setting his backpack on the floor, well in reach.

"Blue," he called quietly, hoping not to startle him.

Apparently, Blue's slumber was not deep, because his eyes fluttered open immediately upon hearing him. It took a few seconds for the former gym leader's gaze to find his but when it did, Red nearly flinched.

Blue's initially blank look slowly changed into one of confusion and misery, as if he wasn't trusting himself to believe his friend had actually come. Red tried to appease him by offering him a look full of sympathy. The two stared at eachother wordlessly for what felt like an eternity. Blue was looking at him like he was a vision merely taunting him with the prospect of a release and Red, with his natural empathy, suffered along with him. The brunette gave him an understanding nod. He really was here and he had a job to do.

"I'll do it," he said simply.

His reaction time was sluggish because of the medication, but Red saw his friend blink... and then smile. A smile of more genuine relief and gratitude than anything he had ever seen on a human face illuminated his deathly pale face. The former gym leader closed his eyes for a moment, letting out a long sigh. His smile was wide and bright. He looked like he wanted to say something but with the damage done to his throat, he couldn't. He couldn't speak but words wouldn't have made his feelings any clearer.

Red glanced at the floor, feeling exposed without his cap shielding his eyes. He felt a painful knot in his throat.

There was so much he wanted to say, but he was never good with words. The day they had both left Pallet Town on their respective journeys, Red would never have thought his rival would one day become his friend. Not just his friend but his only real human friend; his brother. And when Blue rescued him from Mount Silver and helped him find his way back into reality, going against everything he thought he knew about his rival, they had unknowingly forged a destiny bond and Red was certain a part of him would die along with his friend tonight.

Blue was a fighter. He grew up an orphan with a distant sister and an uncaring grandfather, with no chance in the world to be what he needed to be. But he had fought to become the champion, and though he experienced crushing losses, he never surrendered; never accepted defeat. He never let anyone decide his path for him. Not his family, not his friends, not his bosses. He carved his own path. People who always do what they're told never make history, he used to say. And Red's friend, who always had a problem with authority, had become the person he respected the most.

The brunette gathered his courage and unzipped his yellow bag, fishing out a familiar old pocket knife, releasing the blade with a shaky, unwilling hand. Blue watched him intently but there was no trace of fear in his eyes when Red brought the gleaming blade to his wrist.

With a swift, controlled movement, Red sliced off the strap that bound Blue's left wrist to his bed and repeated the process flawlessly for his right, withdrawing the blade and pocketing the knife when he was done. There was no point; no need for that but Red felt it deep within his heart that he had to untie the former gym leader from his deathbed. To symbolically release him; to give him his freedom back. All of it. Because Blue was never one to accept his fate. Because Blue, Red knew, wanted to die on his own terms. Not to wait for life to bring him down.

He knew the strawberry blonde trainer understood the gesture, for he smiled gratefully at him again. The moment Red dreaded the most came. His brown eyes met his friend's hazel ones and they both grew serious.

"I made sure everything would go right," Red tried to say in a straight voice but it broke almost immediately and a stray tear rolled down his cheek. Blue couldn't say anything but he graced him with a comforting look. How ironic, Red thought, that his dying friend was the one trying to comfort him.

Red swallowed back the lump that was forming in his throat and bent over, retrieving the small glass bottle from his bag along with an intimidatigly large syringe. Following his many times rehearsed plan, Red poked the head of the needle through the cork and filled the syringe with the clear liquid contained within the bottle until it was completely full.

He had done his research in order to find a way to end Blue's suffering as painlessly as possible. The best way he had found to carry out the deed had been with insulin. It was painless, relatively quick and very effective. Plus, unlike most other lethal drugs, insulin was very easy to procure. All he had to do was steal it from a pharmacy as the containers were kept in a fully accessible container in the building. The hormone was used to control diabetes but for a non-diabetic patient like Blue, it would be fatal. It was a big enough dose of insulin to do the job ten times over, Red had made sure of it. He put the bottle back into his bag.

Syringe in hand, he looked over at his dying friend again, the sadness and fear of what he was about to do breaking through his usually stoic mask. The painful memories of his psychotic episode, during which he imagined killing his rival multiple times came flowing back. Who would have thought that it would actually end up happening? Just in a very different way. Did Blue even realize what he was doing to him? Red felt like he stood on the edge of a deep dark bottomless pit and he was about to take a step forward. He was terrified of the thought of never finding himself again after this. After commiting a murder.

Then he saw Blue, who had a calm, serene expression on his face. He was at peace and for the first time since his accident, there was no pain in his eyes. His look was one of acceptance. _No_ , Red thought. _I'm not killing him. I'm helping him. I'm doing him a favor, like we did for that ratatta. He asked me to put him out of his misery and that's exactly what I will do. I'm not a murderer. I'm being kind..._ Blue was still looking at him patiently and when he felt his savior was strong enough, he nodded. He was not afraid. He was ready.

Red had to take a deep breath to bring himself to move. He didn't want to do the deed but there was no turning back, now. Blue was waiting. This is what he wanted. This is what he expected from him. For his only remaining friend to release him. To make all the pain go away. Blue had asked him to change his destiny. To put him out of his misery so he could die with his dignity intact, still hearing the people chanting for him.

Blue seemed to sense his hesitation and Red saw, out of the corner of his eye, the former gym leader weakly extending his now free hand in his direction. Red gasped, frozen by the power of his emotions for a moment. He didn't need to be told what to do and took Blue's hand in his; shaking hands with his spiritual brother on a final farewell. Red held it strongly, feeling his former rival squeezing it back with as much force as his weakened muscles could muster. _It's going to be okay_ , he could feel Blue tell him through the gesture.

There was no more room for hesitation. Red let go of Blue's hand, which fell back on the matress dully. Red brought the syringe to the IV bag and poked the needle through, injecting the heavy dose of insulin in it.

When the syringe was completely empty, Red looked back at his friend who smiled one last time at him. There was a deafening silence, disturbed only by the beeping of the heart monitor, which, Red noticed after about two minutes, began to slow down. His friend eventually closed his eyes, falling in a coma-like sleep induced by the insulin.

That was when Red closed his own eyes, not wanting to see what he did. It wouldn't be long now. Red hid his face in his hands and he waited. He waited.

He heard the beeping of the heart monitor slow down steadily. He heard Blue's respiration diminish. He waited. And waited. Until he heard the heart monitor let out a long, uniterrupted beep. And just like that, Red knew that it was over.

He looked over at Blue and tears fell freely out of his eyes.

Blue's body was now resting in his bed, his face serene, his eyelids closed and his body completely still. And he was more peaceful now than he had ever seen him. The former Viridian City gym leader had passed away at the age of 22.

Red placed a gentle hand spontaneously on Blue's shoulder, feeling the warmth slowly leaving it. "Goodbye, Blue," He whispered, a single tear rolling down his cheek and falling somewhere on the floor.

Red swallowed back another sob and got up, shouldering his backpack and putting his signature red cap back on his head. The syringe and bottle safely tucked in his bag, Red took one last look at his former rival's peacefully resting form and felt an enormous weight being lifted off of his chest. And he knew in his heart that he had done the right thing. He had been merciful. He had saved him.

When he left the room, he didn't look back.

* * *

 _I know... This one probably hurts. There is only one chapter left after this one. Tune in next week for the very last chapter in Invisible._


	36. Epilogue: A letter for my mom

_Apologies again for updating late but I have been working a lot lately because money is tight. I also have been suffering from writer's block. It definetly was time for this story to end because I couldn't have kept this up any longer._

 _I have spent the entire week wondering how I was gonna write this last chapter. My initial intent was to make a long one with multiple scenes describing how every character felt about the events of the last chapter. But even though I tried time and time again to write down something good, it just wouldn't come out the way I wanted it to._

 _You will notice that this chapter is written in a different format than the rest of the story. I thought it would be a good idea to convey the story in a simple way that worked around my writer's block. It's also very short; I hope you're not disappointed._

* * *

 **Epilogue: A letter for my mom**

I know you're probably wondering where I am right now. I wish I could tell you, but it's too risky to do so, for now.

I think you figured out by now why I had to leave. I can't tell you how sorry I am. I had no other choice. Even though I did what I did with only the best intentions, my actions came at a steep price. But it's going to be my burden, and mine alone. I hope you understand.

I know you were at the funeral, just like every citizen of Pallet and Viridian and probably every gym leader in Kanto. You didn't see me, but I was there too, hiding. I couldn't be seen amongst all that crowd; not when the police are on the lookout for the one responsible, but I came to pay my respects to my best friend when people had left, after nightfall. Blue and I said everything we needed to say before the end.

Blue was already famous as he was but now, after his death, he has become somewhat of a legend. Everyone wonders how it happened and who did it. Nobody outside of that hospital knew just how bad his condition was; because he kept it all a secret. Because of that, people keep wondering if he died from illness or from injury. Of course, many of them suspected it was suicide or murder... But deep in my heart, I know it was none of those things...

I had to leave because what I did was what most would consider a crime. I don't really have a particular goal in mind but I need time to grieve. It's difficult to go on living like this. I miss my friend. People know how close we were. My apparent absence at his funeral was noticed, I know. That's why I need to lay low for a while.

I heard professor Oak retired after that. During his last visit at the hospital, Blue told him not to visit him for a few days so he could rest. I imagine he had a hard time dealing with the fact that Blue had just been trying to get him to leave so he could die without anyone interfering.

I was wondering how Daisy would react. She has been awfully quiet and distant during this whole nine months of hell. I heard Blue actually gave all of the money he had to her so she could raise her baby without having to worry about income.

Maybe this is just to show what I realized a long time ago. When I looked at all these people gathered around when they buried him next to his parents, I can't help but think: who among these people really knew him?

Who really knew the real him? Blue always kept that facade up but I had the chance to see who he really was. He was not the selfish, insensitive and arrogant bully people made him out to be. Nobody really knew who he was deep down inside, except for me.

He was a free spirit and from the very beginning, he forced me to become more than I was. He always was much stronger than me. He taught me to stand up for myself. I never would have become the trainer I am without him. Without an adversary, a fighter is nothing. Without my friend, I feel like I am nothing.

Sometimes, I feel like it's never going to end. Nothing means anything anymore. Things start happening that don't make sense. I have these horrible nightmares and when I wake up, it takes a while before I remember where I am and why I'm there. I feel so guilty about this that I don't even feel like running anymore. I want to let the police find me and take me away. The only reason I don't do it is because I know Blue wouldn't have wanted me to surrender like that. He once risked his life to save mine and I can't let his sacrifice go to waste. But I'm afraid... because I feel like I'm losing control again...

Sometimes I see him walking by my side. It's not like it was the last time it happened. He's never right in front of me. He's always hanging at the edge of my vision. When I try to look, he disappears but I know it's him. Yet, I know it's not real. I know what is going on. That is what I feared the most.

I went back to that research facility and I got that pokémon back. The one Team Rocket was after. The one they maimed Blue to get. They said it was too dangerous and aggressive to be tamed but this time, when I released it, it didn't attack. It's a psychic type. They can see what lies buried in our hearts. You can't hide what's in your heart. It saw something that convinced it that I wasn't its enemy. It's with me now. I carry it with me but it has just as much power over me as I do over it.

I feel like I'm about to stumble in the dark and I feel like not trying to get back up. It never gets any better. I don't think I can live with this much longer. I wish I could see you. I wish things could go back the way they were before... I wanna start this over again.

I don't know what awaits me at the end of the road, but if I don't see you again, mom, I want you to know that you were the greatest mother a son could have asked for. Don't feel bad for me. It was my choice and I am prepared to live with the consequences.

I love you.

Red

* * *

 _So this is it guys. The story about Red and Blue's friendship. I found it fitting to end it by a letter from Red to his mom, explaining how he felt. It's short, but there's a lot of details hidden between the lines.I just hope its shortness doesn't make it feel rushed.  
_

 _A big sincere thank you to all of those who reviewed. Before we say goodbye, I wanna hear from you guys. How did you find this story as a whole? What was your favorite part? And don't be shy about reviewing even if this story is old. I'll still gladly read your comments ten years from now so go on ahead!  
_

 _I'm going to take a break from writing for a while but I will certainly write more pokémon stuff in the future. So, I am still open for suggestions (except for yaoi). I was thinking about either a horror story with Red and Blue or a rom-com with Blue and Leaf. What do you think?  
_


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